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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 03/26/2024 and 06/182025 were considered by the examiner.
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) 1-3, 5, 7-8, 10-14, 17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AlQatari et al. (US 20230135275 A1, provided by applicant) in view of Milford (US 20230151728 A1).
Regarding claim 1, AlQatari teaches A well system (Abstract; Fig. 3), comprising:
a surface installation provided at a well surface location (Figs. 1 and 2; [0023] lines 12-15, “The method 100 then collects the determined position data within a memory, as indicated at step 108, and maps an inner surface and surroundings of the borehole 12 from the position data in step 110”);
a wellbore (borehole 12) extending from the surface installation and providing an open hole section ([0006] lines 4-10, “As should be understood, positioning in a borehole includes positioning within the inner wall of a well or surface pipelines, regardless of the media, and so can include positioning within the wall of a rock formation in an open-hole environment or in a cased hole in which metallic or nonmetallic tubular structures line the hole.”);
a bore mapping device (tool 10, 30) conveyable into the wellbore (Figs. 1 and 2) and including:
a bore surface mapping sensor operable to sense a surface of the open hole section (Fig. 3, intermediate lidar 52, mapping sub-system; and
an obstruction sensor arranged at a downhole end of the bore mapping device (distal lidar 54) and operable to sense obstructions within the wellbore ([0021] lines 10-15, “The distal emitter 62 emits light in a second direction which is towards a distal object in the borehole 12, and the distal receiver 64 receives reflected light from the distal object to determine a characteristic of the distal object.”); and
a data acquisition system (mapping subsystem 56) in communication with the bore mapping device to receive data generated by the bore surface mapping sensor and the obstruction sensor ([0020] lines 6-10, “the sub-systems 52, 54 can be connected to the mapping sub-system 56 by a transmission line extending through the longitudinal length of the tool 10, 30. Alternatively, the sub-systems 52, 54 can be wirelessly connected to the mapping sub-system 56.) and operable to create a three-dimensional model of the open hole section of the wellbore ([0023] lines 22-26, “The method 100 then generates and outputs a map which visually displays the borehole 12 and the determined physical characteristics of the borehole 12 in step 114. The map is used to generate a three-dimensional representation of the inner surfaces and objects.”).
AlQatari does not teach the well system, comprising: a bore mapping device conveyable into the wellbore on a conveyance;
a bore surface mapping sensor operable to sense a surface of the open hole section as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore.
Milford teaches an analogous well system (Abstract; Fig. 1) a bore mapping device (Fig. 1; [0016] lines 3-5, “Information may be utilized to produce an image, which may be generated into a two or three-dimensional models of subterranean formation 106”) conveyable into the wellbore (Fig. 1, wellbore 224) on a conveyance ([0017] lines 9-13, “Conveyance 210 may include any suitable means for providing mechanical conveyance for downhole tool 202, including, but not limited to, wireline, slickline, coiled tubing, pipe, drill pipe, downhole tractor, or the like”);
a bore surface mapping sensor operable to sense a surface of the open hole section (Fig. 1) as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore ([0011] lines 9-11, “As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, BHA 130 may be a measurement-while drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) system.”; [0023] lines 12-15, “Downhole tool 202 with imaging assembly 134 may be lowered into reference borehole 306 to work in conjunction with BHA 130, as drilling operations 100 operate to form an intercept borehole 308.”)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the well system of AlQatari to include the conveyance and the sensor operable as the mapping device traverse the wellbore of Milford because it would yield predictable results, such as the conveyance being a well-known technique for putting the sensor in the well bore and the operating the sensor during traversal of the wellbore being a well-known technique for operating down-hole sensors (e.g. measurement-while drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD))..
Regarding claim 2, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the conveyance is selected from the group consisting of wireline, electric line, slickline, wired slickline, coiled tubing, wired coiled tubing, drill pipe, wired drill pipe (Milford: [0017] lines 9-13, “Conveyance 210 may include any suitable means for providing mechanical conveyance for downhole tool 202, including, but not limited to, wireline, slickline, coiled tubing, pipe, drill pipe, downhole tractor, or the like”), and any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 3, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor (AlQatari: an intermediate LIDAR sub-system 14), an ultrasonic sensor, a radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) sensor, an infrared sensor, a laser range finder, a structured light sensor, a dye laser, an excimer laser, a gas laser, and any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 5, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a detector (AlQatari: [0021] lines 3-4, “The intermediate receiver 60 can be a photodiode.”) for detecting light reflected off the surface of the open hole section (AlQatari: [0021] lines 4-8, “The intermediate emitter 58 emits light in a first direction which is towards an intermediate object in the borehole 12, and the intermediate receiver 60 receives reflected light from the intermediate object to determine a characteristic of the intermediate object.”).
Regarding claim 7, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the bore mapping device further includes a displacement mechanism operable to displace an emitter or a detector of the bore surface mapping sensor and thereby increasing an area over which measurements are captured (AlQatari: [0018] lines 10-14, “The light 36 is emitted in a limited arc from the tool 30. The tool 30 can rotate about an axis 32. In an alternative embodiment, the tool 30 can have a body which is stationary and does not rotate, while the sub-systems 34, 38 rotate about the axis 32.”; [0019] lines 8-13, “using rotation of the tool 30 and movement of the tool 30 through the borehole 12, the LIDAR sub-systems 34, 38 sweep a wide range of objects surrounding the tool 30. Such sweeps of LIDAR from the tool 30 can form a spiral pattern of detection of objects in the borehole 12.”).
Regarding claim 8, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the obstruction sensor comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of a LiDAR sensor (AlQatari: distal LIDAR sub-system 18), an ultrasonic sensor, a radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) sensor, an infrared sensor, a laser range finder, a structured light sensor, and any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 10, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein bore mapping device further includes one or more sensors operable to obtain measurements of downhole conditions within the wellbore (Milford: [0027] lines 1-10, “Acoustic ranging, in general, may comprise inserting into a wellbore 102 and/or borehole (such as target borehole 300 and/or reference borehole 306) a downhole tool 202 (e.g., referring to FIG. 1) with acoustic transmitters and receivers (not illustrated) and inducing an acoustic wave to travel into the walls of wellbore 102 and/or borehole and surrounding formation 106 (e.g., referring to FIG. 1). Acoustic sensing may provide continuous in situ measurements of parameters related to formation or borehole fluid.”).
Regarding claim 11, AlQatari teaches A method for mapping a wellbore (Abstract; Fig. 3), comprising:
conveying (Figs. 1 and 2) a bore mapping device (tool 10, 30) into a wellbore (borehole 12) extending from a surface installation (Figs. 1 and 2; [0023] lines 12-15, “The method 100 then collects the determined position data within a memory, as indicated at step 108, and maps an inner surface and surroundings of the borehole 12 from the position data in step 110”), the wellbore providing an open hole section ([0006] lines 4-10, “As should be understood, positioning in a borehole includes positioning within the inner wall of a well or surface pipelines, regardless of the media, and so can include positioning within the wall of a rock formation in an open-hole environment or in a cased hole in which metallic or nonmetallic tubular structures line the hole.”);
sensing a surface of the open hole section with a bore surface mapping sensor of the bore mapping device (Fig. 3, intermediate lidar 52, mapping sub-system), and thereby generating mapping data corresponding to the surface of the open hole section ([0022] lines 2-8, “The hardware processor 66 has code therein configured to determine a position of the tool 10, 30 in the borehole 12 from the characteristic of the distal object, to determine an inner surface of the borehole 12 from the characteristic of the intermediate object, and to generate and output a map of the borehole 12 from the position and the inner surface.”);
sensing obstructions within the wellbore ([0021] lines 10-15, “The distal emitter 62 emits light in a second direction which is towards a distal object in the borehole 12, and the distal receiver 64 receives reflected light from the distal object to determine a characteristic of the distal object.”) with an obstruction sensor (distal lidar 54) arranged at a downhole end of the bore mapping device (Figs. 1 and 2, distal LIDAR sub-systems 18, 38);
transmitting the mapping data to a data acquisition system (mapping subsystem 56) in communication with the bore mapping device ([0020] lines 6-10, “the sub-systems 52, 54 can be connected to the mapping sub-system 56 by a transmission line extending through the longitudinal length of the tool 10, 30. Alternatively, the sub-systems 52, 54 can be wirelessly connected to the mapping sub-system 56.); and
processing the mapping data with the data acquisition system and thereby creating a three-dimensional model of the open hole section of the wellbore ([0023] lines 22-26, “The method 100 then generates and outputs a map which visually displays the borehole 12 and the determined physical characteristics of the borehole 12 in step 114. The map is used to generate a three-dimensional representation of the inner surfaces and objects.”).
AlQatari does not teach the method, comprising:
sensing a surface of the open hole section with a bore surface mapping sensor of the bore mapping device as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore;
sensing obstructions within the wellbore with an obstruction sensor as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore.
Milford teaches an analogous method, comprising:
sensing a surface of the open hole section with a bore surface mapping sensor of the bore mapping device (Fig. 1; [0016] lines 3-5, “Information may be utilized to produce an image, which may be generated into a two or three-dimensional models of subterranean formation 106”) as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore ([0011] lines 9-11, “As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, BHA 130 may be a measurement-while drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) system.”; [0023] lines 12-15, “Downhole tool 202 with imaging assembly 134 may be lowered into reference borehole 306 to work in conjunction with BHA 130, as drilling operations 100 operate to form an intercept borehole 308.”);
sensing obstructions within the wellbore with an obstruction sensor as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore ([0023] lines 12-15, “Downhole tool 202 with imaging assembly 134 may be lowered into reference borehole 306 to work in conjunction with BHA 130, as drilling operations 100 operate to form an intercept borehole 308.”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of AlQatari to include the sensors operable as the mapping device traverse the wellbore of Milford because it would yield predictable results, such as the operating the sensor during traversal of the wellbore being a well-known technique for operating down-hole sensors (e.g. measurement-while drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD)).
Regarding claim 12, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying (Milford: [0018] lines 8-11, “Information handling system 138 may process the signals, and the information contained therein may be displayed for an operator to observe and stored for future processing and reference.”) the three-dimensional model of the open hole section of the wellbore to an operator (Milford: [0019] lines 27-33, “video display 142 may provide an image to a user based on activities performed by personal computer 141. For example, producing images of geological structures created from recorded signals. By way of example, video display unit may produce a plot of depth versus the two cross-axial components of the gravitational field and versus the axial component in borehole coordinates”) in real-time as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore (Milford: [0018] lines 1-2, “The processing may be performed real-time during data acquisition or after recovery of downhole tool 202.”).
Regarding claim 13, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The method of claim 11, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a LiDAR sensor (AlQatari: intermediate LIDAR sub-system 34) including an emitter (emitter 58), and wherein sensing the surface of the open hole section comprises:
emitting light towards the surface of the open hole section with the LiDAR sensor (Figs. 1 and 2, emitted light 16, 36); and
detecting light reflected off the surface of the open hole section (AlQatari: [0021] lines 4-8, “The intermediate emitter 58 emits light in a first direction which is towards an intermediate object in the borehole 12, and the intermediate receiver 60 receives reflected light from the intermediate object to determine a characteristic of the intermediate object.”) with a detector forming part of the bore surface mapping sensor (Fig. 3, receiver 60).
Regarding claim 14, AlQatari teaches A bore mapping device (tool 10, 30), comprising:
a bore surface mapping sensor operable to sense a surface of an open hole section (Fig. 3, intermediate lidar 52, mapping sub-system) of a wellbore (borehole 12) as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore;
an obstruction sensor arranged downhole from the bore surface mapping sensor (distal lidar 54) to sense obstructions within the wellbore ([0021] lines 10-15, “The distal emitter 62 emits light in a second direction which is towards a distal object in the borehole 12, and the distal receiver 64 receives reflected light from the distal object to determine a characteristic of the distal object.”); and
a data acquisition system (mapping subsystem 56) in communication with the bore mapping device to receive data generated by the bore surface mapping sensor and the obstruction sensor ([0020] lines 6-10, “the sub-systems 52, 54 can be connected to the mapping sub-system 56 by a transmission line extending through the longitudinal length of the tool 10, 30. Alternatively, the sub-systems 52, 54 can be wirelessly connected to the mapping sub-system 56.) and operable to create a three-dimensional model of the open hole section of the wellbore ([0023] lines 22-26, “The method 100 then generates and outputs a map which visually displays the borehole 12 and the determined physical characteristics of the borehole 12 in step 114. The map is used to generate a three-dimensional representation of the inner surfaces and objects.”).
AlQatari does not teach the device, comprising:
a bore surface mapping sensor operable to sense a surface of the open hole section as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore.
Milford teaches an analogous device (downhole tool 202), comprising:
a bore surface mapping sensor (Fig. 1; [0016] lines 3-5, “Information may be utilized to produce an image, which may be generated into a two or three-dimensional models of subterranean formation 106”) operable to sense a surface of the open hole section (Fig. 1) as the bore mapping device traverses the wellbore ([0011] lines 9-11, “As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, BHA 130 may be a measurement-while drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) system.”; [0023] lines 12-15, “Downhole tool 202 with imaging assembly 134 may be lowered into reference borehole 306 to work in conjunction with BHA 130, as drilling operations 100 operate to form an intercept borehole 308.”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of AlQatari to include the sensors operable as the mapping device traverse the wellbore of Milford because it would yield predictable results, such as the operating the sensor during traversal of the wellbore being a well-known technique for operating down-hole sensors (e.g. measurement-while drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD)).
Regarding claim 17, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The bore mapping device of claim 14, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a detector (AlQatari: [0021] lines 3-4, “The intermediate receiver 60 can be a photodiode.”) for detecting light reflected off the surface of the open hole section (AlQatari: [0021] lines 4-8, “The intermediate emitter 58 emits light in a first direction which is towards an intermediate object in the borehole 12, and the intermediate receiver 60 receives reflected light from the intermediate object to determine a characteristic of the intermediate object.”).
Regarding claim 19, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The bore mapping device of claim 14, further comprising a displacement mechanism operable to displace an emitter or a detector of the bore surface mapping sensor and thereby increasing an area over which measurements are captured (AlQatari: [0018] lines 10-14, “The light 36 is emitted in a limited arc from the tool 30. The tool 30 can rotate about an axis 32. In an alternative embodiment, the tool 30 can have a body which is stationary and does not rotate, while the sub-systems 34, 38 rotate about the axis 32.”; [0019] lines 8-13, “using rotation of the tool 30 and movement of the tool 30 through the borehole 12, the LIDAR sub-systems 34, 38 sweep a wide range of objects surrounding the tool 30. Such sweeps of LIDAR from the tool 30 can form a spiral pattern of detection of objects in the borehole 12.”).
Regarding claim 20, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The bore mapping device of claim 14, wherein the obstruction sensor comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of a LiDAR sensor (AlQatari: distal LIDAR sub-system 18), an ultrasonic sensor, a radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) sensor, an infrared sensor, a laser range finder, a structured light sensor, and any combination thereof.
Claim(s) 4, 6, 9, 15, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AlQatari in view of Milford as applied to claims 1, 5, 14, and 17, respectfully, above, and further in view of Smits (US 20180180733 A1)
Regarding claim 4, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a LiDAR sensor (AlQatari: an intermediate LIDAR sub-system 14) including an emitter for emitting light towards the surface of the open hole section (emitter 58), the emitter comprising a laser ([0021] lines 2-3, “The intermediate emitter 58 can be a laser.”)
AlQatari in view of Milford does not teach the system, comprising a laser selected from the group consisting of a laser diode, a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, a microchip laser, a quantum cascade laser, a vertical-cavity laser, a surface-emitting laser, a supercontinuum laser, a semiconductor laser, and any combination thereof.
Smits teaches an analogous inspection system (see [0164]), comprising a laser selected from the group consisting of a laser diode ([0054] lines 1-4, “The transmitter 104 may include one or more light sources for transmitting light or photon beams. Examples of suitable light sources includes lasers, laser diodes, light emitting diodes, organic light emitting diodes, or the like”), a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, a microchip laser, a quantum cascade laser, a vertical-cavity laser, a surface-emitting laser, a supercontinuum laser, a semiconductor laser, and any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 6, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 5, wherein the detector comprises a photodiode (AlQatari: [0021] lines 3-4, “The intermediate receiver 60 can be a photodiode.”)
AlQatari in view of Milford does not teach the well system, wherein the detector comprises a photodiode selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor photodiode, a silicon photodiode, a silicon photomultiplier, an avalanche photodiode, and any combination thereof.
Smits teaches an analogous system, wherein the detector ([0118] lines 1-2, “the system 100 contains N cameras (or other light receivers or detectors)”) comprises a photodiode selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor photodiode, a silicon photodiode, a silicon photomultiplier ([0119] lines 25-32, “The pixels may include various photon-sensitive technologies, such as one or more of active-pixel sensors (APS), charge-coupled devices (CCDs), Single Photon Avalanche Detector (SPAD) (operated in avalanche mode or Geiger mode), complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM), photovoltaic cells, phototransistors, twitchy pixels, or the like.”), an avalanche photodiode, and any combination thereof.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of AlQatari in view of Milford to include the silicon photomultiplier detector of Smits because such detectors are well known in the art and yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 9, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The well system of claim 1.
AlQatari in view of Milford does not teach the system, wherein the data acquisition system is operable to interpret point cloud data to construct the three-dimensional model of the surface of the open hole section.
Smits teaches an analogous system, wherein the data acquisition system (computer device 110) is operable to interpret ([0106] “The sets of detection positions are sent to a central processing system, such as system computer device 110, that combines these streams of detection positions from the multiple cameras and combines them computationally (for example, by a series of matrix multiplications) fusing the multiple pixel streams from the cameras (preferably with minimal latency) into a single voxel flow (for example, a flow of positions of the illuminated voxels of object 108 such as (xa,ya,za) for voxel a of the object 108) which can then be directly fed into, for example, a down-stream perception system.”) point cloud data to construct the three-dimensional model of the surface of the open hole section ([0143] lines 8-11, “3D scans of non-deformable surfaces, such as interior walls, buildings and streets, cumulatively add finer details and therefore their resulting 3D point cloud images rapidly gain fidelity.”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of AlQatari in view of Milford to include the point cloud data of Smits because the use of point cloud data in the construction of three-dimensional models is well known in the art and would yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 15, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The bore mapping device of claim 14, wherein the bore surface mapping sensor comprises a LiDAR sensor (AlQatari: an intermediate LIDAR sub-system 14) including an emitter for emitting light towards the surface of the open hole section (AlQatari: emitter 58), comprising a laser (AlQatari: [0021] lines 2-3, “The intermediate emitter 58 can be a laser.”).
AlQatari in view of Milford does not teach the device, comprising a laser selected from the group consisting of a laser diode, a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, a microchip laser, a quantum cascade laser, a vertical-cavity laser, a surface-emitting laser, a supercontinuum laser, a semiconductor laser, and any combination thereof.
Smits teaches an analogous inspection system (see [0164]), comprising a laser selected from the group consisting of a laser diode ([0054] lines 1-4, “The transmitter 104 may include one or more light sources for transmitting light or photon beams. Examples of suitable light sources includes lasers, laser diodes, light emitting diodes, organic light emitting diodes, or the like”), a fiber laser, a solid-state laser, a microchip laser, a quantum cascade laser, a vertical-cavity laser, a surface-emitting laser, a supercontinuum laser, a semiconductor laser, and any combination thereof.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of AlQatari in view of Milford to include the laser diode of Smits because such laser emitters are well known in the art and yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 18, AlQatari in view of Milford teaches The bore mapping device of claim 17, wherein the detector comprises a photodiode (AlQatari: [0021] lines 3-4, “The intermediate receiver 60 can be a photodiode.”)
AlQatari in view of Milford does not teach the device, wherein the detector comprises a photodiode selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor photodiode, a silicon photodiode, a silicon photomultiplier, an avalanche photodiode, and any combination thereof.
Smits teaches an analogous device, wherein the detector ([0118] lines 1-2, “the system 100 contains N cameras (or other light receivers or detectors)”) comprises a photodiode selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor photodiode, a silicon photodiode, a silicon photomultiplier ([0119] lines 25-32, “The pixels may include various photon-sensitive technologies, such as one or more of active-pixel sensors (APS), charge-coupled devices (CCDs), Single Photon Avalanche Detector (SPAD) (operated in avalanche mode or Geiger mode), complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM), photovoltaic cells, phototransistors, twitchy pixels, or the like.”), an avalanche photodiode, and any combination thereof.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of AlQatari in view of Milford to include the silicon photomultiplier of Smits as the detector because the use of silicon photomultipliers as the photodiode detector is well known in the art and yields predictable results.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AlQatari in view of Milford and Smits as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Stojetz et al. (US 20220128662 A1).
Regarding claim 16, AlQatari in view of Milford and Smits teaches The bore mapping device of claim 15.
AlQatari in view of Milford and Smits does not teach the device, wherein the emitter comprises a semiconductor laser diode.
Stojetz teaches an analogous LIDAR device, wherein the emitter comprises a semiconductor laser diode ([0034] lines 1-5, “The emitters can preferably be semiconductor laser diodes. In particular, a semiconductor laser diode can be an edge-emitting laser, for example a so-called stripe laser, a ridge waveguide laser, a tapered laser or a combination thereof.”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of AlQatari in view of Milford and Smits to include the semiconductor laser diode of Stojetz because the use of semiconductor laser diode as a laser diode is well known in the art and yields predictable results.
Conclusion
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/B.B.G./Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/Catherine T. Rastovski/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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