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 .
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) 1-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shand (US 2019/0041503) in view of Zhu (US 2020/0003877) and Caldwell (US 2009/0046289).
Regarding Claims 1 and 15, Shand teaches alternating pulsed lidar system and method [Abstract; 0036-39] comprising: a laser beam generator configured to sequentially emit laser beam pulses [0036-39; 0094-95] from ports for an aircraft [0038; 0203]…; a receiver configured to: receive a … light generated in response to sequentially emitting the laser beam pulses [0050; 0053; 0060-63]; and generate … data from the …light; and an analyzer [0199]. Shand does not explicitly teach … into an atmosphere on an alternating basis between the ports … backscatter data from backscattered light… or configured to determine a set of parameters for the aircraft using the backscatter data. Zhu teaches into an atmosphere on an alternating basis between the ports [0084-86] – and additionally teaches a laser beam generator configured to sequentially emit laser beam pulses [Abstract; 0029-35], from ports for an aircraft [0084-86], and a receiver configured to: receive a … light generated in response to sequentially emitting the laser beam pulses [0034; 0037; 0048-50], and generate … data from the …light; and an analyzer [0034; 0037; 0048-50]. Caldwell teaches backscatter data from backscattered light… or configured to determine a set of parameters for the aircraft using the backscatter data [0030-32; 0041; 0045; 0065; 0075; 0082] and additionally teaches a laser beam generator configured to sequentially emit laser beam pulses [Abstract], from ports for an aircraft [0024]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include alternating pulse sequences into air (atmosphere) or to detect backscattered data to obtain accurate computations of various air parameters, such as air speed, air temperature and air pressure, substantially regardless of altitude …a system that accurately performs in a variety of vibrational environments, obtaining data about the aircraft area without a prior knowledge of the atmosphere, and or providing robustness with respect to high vibration environments.
Regarding Claim 12, Shand teaches an alternating pulsed lidar system [Abstract; 0036-39]comprising: a laser beam generator comprising: a laser source configured to generate a laser beam [0036-39; 0094-95]; and a switch configured to: receive the laser beam from the laser source [0050; 0053; 0060-63]; …of ports for an aircraft [0038; 0203] on an alternating basis to sequentially emit multiple laser beam pulses from the different subsets of ports [0036-39; 0094-95]; a receiver configured to: receive … light generated in response to sequentially emitting the laser beam pulses from the different subsets of ports [0050; 0053; 0060-63]; and an analyzer [0199]. Shand does not explicitly teach into an atmosphere on an alternating basis between the ports … split the laser beam into multiple laser beams; and switch the multiple laser beams to different subsets … and generate backscatter data from the backscatter light. Zhu teaches into an atmosphere on an alternating basis between the ports [0084-86], switch the multiple laser beams to different subsets [0028; 0068-72]- and additionally teaches a laser source configured to generate a laser beam [Abstract; 0029-35] from ports for an aircraft [0084-86] and receive the laser beam from the laser source [0034; 0037; 0048-50]. Caldwell teaches generate backscatter data from the backscatter light [0030-32; 0041; 0045; 0065; 0075; 0082], split the laser beam into multiple laser beams [0028; 0030; 0034-37] - and additionally teaches a laser beam generator configured to sequentially emit laser beam pulses [Abstract], from ports for an aircraft [0024]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include switching and splitting the laser beam into alternating pulse sequences into air (atmosphere) or to detect backscattered data to obtain accurate computations of various air parameters, such as air speed, air temperature and air pressure, substantially regardless of altitude …a system that accurately performs in a variety of vibrational environments, obtaining data about the aircraft area without a prior knowledge of the atmosphere, and or providing robustness with respect to high vibration environments.
Regarding Claims 2 and 16, Shand also teaches wherein the laser beam generator comprises: a laser source configured to generate a laser beam [0036-39; 0094-95]; …receive the laser beam from the laser source [0050; 0053; 0060-63]; …to sequentially emit the laser beam pulses from the ports [0036-39; 0094-95; 0203]. Shand does not explicitly teach – but Zhu teaches a switch configured to: …switch the laser beam received from the laser source to the ports on the alternating basis [0028; 0068-72]… for the aircraft into the atmosphere on the alternating basis between the ports [Abstract; 0029-35; 0084-86]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include switching and splitting the laser beam into alternating pulse sequences into air (atmosphere) or to detect backscattered data to obtain accurate computations of various air parameters, such as air speed, air temperature and air pressure, substantially regardless of altitude …a system that accurately performs in a variety of vibrational environments, obtaining data about the aircraft area without a prior knowledge of the atmosphere, and or providing robustness with respect to high vibration environments.
Regarding Claim 3, Shand does not explicitly teach a low power switch configured to: receive the laser beam; split the laser beam to form split laser beams; and send the split laser beams to the ports for emission into the atmosphere; wherein the switch is configured to send the laser beam to the low power switch in response to a determination of the set of parameters having a deviation greater than a threshold. Zhu teaches a low power switch [0028; 0068-72] configured to: receive the laser beam; … emission into the atmosphere [Abstract; 0029-35; 0037; 0048-50]; wherein the switch is configured to send the laser beam to the low power switch in response to a determination of the set of parameters having a deviation greater than a threshold [0043; 0061]. Caldwell teaches split the laser beam to form split laser beams; and send the split laser beams [0028; 0030; 0034-37]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include switching and splitting the laser beam into alternating pulse sequences into air (atmosphere) or to detect backscattered data to obtain accurate computations of various air parameters, such as air speed, air temperature and air pressure, substantially regardless of altitude …a system that accurately performs in a variety of vibrational environments, obtaining data about the aircraft area without a prior knowledge of the atmosphere, and or providing robustness with respect to high vibration environments.
Regarding Claims 4 and 17, Shand does not explicitly teach – but Zhu does teach wherein the laser beam is at least one of a continuous wave laser beam or a pulsed laser beam that is sent to the switch [0028; 0068-72]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include switching and splitting the laser beam into alternating pulse sequences into air (atmosphere) or to detect backscattered data to obtain accurate computations of various air parameters, such as air speed, air temperature and air pressure, substantially regardless of altitude …a system that accurately performs in a variety of vibrational environments, obtaining data about the aircraft area without a prior knowledge of the atmosphere, and or providing robustness with respect to high vibration environments.
Regarding Claim 5, Shand does not explicitly teach – but Zhu does teach wherein the switch is selected from a group consisting of an optical switch, an optical fiber switch, and a micro-electro- mechanical system switch [0028; 0068-72]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include an optical, fiber, or MEMS switch as these would be cost effective and readily available to implement in a LIDAR system and further reduce power consumption.
Regarding Claims 6 and 18, Shand does not explicitly teach – but Zhu does teach, wherein the laser beam pulses are N laser beam pulses that are sequentially emitted at a rate that is N times a sampling rate for the backscatter light [0028-35; 0045-46; 0068-72]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include a pulse rate and emission rate being multiples of each other depending on the conditions of the atmospheric environment around the aircraft and to provide a strong enough signal-to-noise ratio.
Regarding Claims 7 and 19 , Shand also teaches wherein the set of parameters is selected from at least one of an airspeed, a temperature, an air density, an angle of sideslip, an angle of attack, wind speed, ice, aerosol properties, a presence of insects, turbulence, or open air turbulenc [0038; 0084; 0199; 0203]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0084-0086]. Caldwell additionally teaches this limitation in [0041; 0045; 0065; 0075; 0082; 0109; 0115]
Regarding Claims 8 and 20, Shand also teaches wherein sequentially emitting the laser beam pulses on the alternating basis between the ports causes at least one of avoiding reducing a power of the laser beam pulses or reducing a drop in the power of the laser beam pulse [0036-39; 0050; 0053; 0060-63; 0094-95]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0028-35; 0045-46; 0068-72].
Regarding Claims 9 and 21, Shand also teaches wherein the alternating pulsed lidar system is a coherent lidar system [0057].
Regarding Claim 10, Shand also teaches wherein the alternating pulsed lidar system is located in a payload connected to the aircraft [0038; 0199; 0203]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0084-86].
Regarding Claims 11 and 13, Shand also teaches wherein the aircraft is selected from a group consisting of an airplane, a commercial aircraft, a rotorcraft, a helicopter, a tilt- rotor aircraft, a tilt wing aircraft, a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, an electrical vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, a personal air vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a drone [0038; 0199; 0203]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0084-86].
Regarding Claim 14, Shand also teaches wherein the aircraft is a rotorcraft [0038; 0199; 0203]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0084-86]. Shand does not explicitly teach – but Caldwell does teach identify the backscatter light occurring from the laser beam pulses hitting blades on the rotorcraft; and filtering out the backscatter light occurring from the laser beam pulses hitting the blades [Abstract; 0010; 0024; 0031-45]. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Shand to include filtering backscattered signals depending on the conditions of the atmospheric environment around the aircraft and to provide a strong enough signal-to-noise ratio.
Regarding Claim 22, Shand also teaches wherein the ports are located in the aircraft [0038; 0199; 0203]. Zhu additionally teaches this limitation in [0084-86].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R HULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7553. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 9am-6pm, F: 10am-2pm.
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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