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 Objections
Claims 1,4-7,11 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities. Appropriate correction is required.
a. Claim 1 should be replaced as follows, “An optical sensor system for communication and pointing, comprising: an optical sensor having photocells arranged in an array configured to receive at least one optical signal; and the optical sensor, in response to the at least one optical signal, generating a first output signal and a second output signal, wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the at least one received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the at least one received optical signal where the optical sensor operates as a dual communication and pointing sensor”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
b. Claim 4 should be replaced as follows, “The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 hertz (Hz)-1 Kilohertz (KHz)”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
c. Claim 5 should be replaced as follows, “The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 Megahertz (MHz)”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
d. Claim 6 should be replaced as follows, “An optical sensor for communication and pointing, comprising: a plurality of photocells configured to receive at least one optical signal, in response to the at least one optical signal, configured to generate a first output signal and a second output signal, wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the at least one received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the at least one received optical signal”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
d. Claim 7 should be replaced as follows, “The sensor of claim 6, wherein the plurality of photocells are arranged in a quadratic matrix”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
e. Claim 11 should be replaced as follows, “The sensor system of claim 6, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 hertz (Hz)-1 Kilohertz (KHz)”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
f. Claim 12 should be replaced as follows, “The sensor system of claim 6, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 Megahertz (MHz)”. Appropriate correction is required to make the claim clearer.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098).
Regarding claim 1, Graves discloses an optical sensor system for communication and pointing,( free space optical communication (FSO) node 10 with detection and alignment sensor 12, see figure 2) comprising: an optical sensor having photocells arranged in an array configured to receive at least one optical signal;( detection sensor 12 and alignment sensor 14 having a common optical receive path for receiving an optical signal, see paragraph 17 and figure 3) and the optical sensor, in response to the optical signal, generating a first output signal second output signal;( a portion of the received beam falls on the alignment sensor 14 and a portion of the receive beam falls on the detection sensor 12, see paragraph 15 and figure 2) where the optical sensor operates as a dual communication and pointing sensor ;( detection sensor 12 and alignment sensor 14 having a common optical receive path for receiving an optical signal, see paragraph 17 and figure 3)
However, Graves does not explicitly disclose wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal.
In a related field of endeavor, Shefer discloses wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal ;( the photon flux that reaches each photodetector in an array of sensors and the desired estimate of the photon flux is obtained via a weighted combination of several time derivatives of the sensors outputs and the estimation processes are performed individually and simultaneously for all the light cells. The present estimators mainly sense the first derivative, or the slope of the signal at each light cell output , see column 2 lines 58-67 and column 3, lines 1-6)
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the measurement of photon flux and its derivatives of Shefer with Graves to provide the measure of the light flux that reaches a detector, and the motivation is to minimize the sensor saturation effect and provide maximum achievable SNR.
Regarding claim 3, Graves discloses the sensor system of claim 1, wherein each of the photocells are spaced from each adjacent photocell by a predefined distance ;(the alignment system with four quadrants and are arranged as the quad-cell in the four equidistant quadrants (I, II, III and IV); see paragraph 18 and figure 3).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Izuhara et al; (US 2023/0213713).
Regarding 2, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier.
In a related field of endeavor, Izuhara discloses the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier ;(silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a single photon avalanche diode SPAD array in which cells are connected in parallel, see paragraph 29 and figure 3).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the silicon photomultiplier of Izuhara with Graves and Shefer to provide very sensitive optical detector and the motivation is to provide ultra-sensitive optical detector with high-speed response and a large aperture.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Kingsbury et al; (US 9813151).
Regarding 4, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 Hz-1 KHz.
In a related field of endeavor, Kingsbury discloses the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 Hz-1 KHz; (MEMS micromirror for fine pointing and tracking with a steering range of about +/−1.25° or about +/−2.86° or about +/−5.73° and a bandwidth about 300 Hz, or of up to 200 Hz, or of up to 1 kHz, see column 15, lines 18-23 and figure 2).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the output signal frequency of Kingsbury with Graves and Shefer point the optical transmitter toward a remote terminal with an accuracy range and the motivation is increased accuracy range of pointing and tracking mechanism.
Regarding 5, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 MHz
In a related field of endeavor, Kingsbury discloses the sensor system of claim 1, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 MHz ;( the transmitter is operated at fslot≧200 MHz, and the modulation order (M) is varied to achieve a variety of link rates, see column 23, lines 62-65).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the output signal frequency of Kingsbury with Graves and Shefer to provide an optical transmitter for free spce optical signal communication and the motivation is achieve a variety of link rates.
Claims 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098).
Regarding claim 6, Graves discloses an optical sensor for communication and pointing, ,( free space optical communication (FSO) node 10 with detection and alignment sensor 12, see figure 2) comprising: a plurality of photocells configured to receive at least one optical signal;( detection sensor 12 and alignment sensor 14 having a common optical receive path for receiving an optical signal, see paragraph 17 and figure 3), in response to the optical signal, configured to generate a first output signal and a second output signal, ;( a portion of the received beam falls on the alignment sensor 14 and a portion of the receive beam falls on the detection sensor 12, see paragraph 15 and figure 2).
However, Graves does not explicitly disclose wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal.
In a related field of endeavor, Shefer discloses wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the received optical signal ;( the photon flux that reaches each photodetector in an array of sensors and the desired estimate of the photon flux is obtained via a weighted combination of several time derivatives of the sensors outputs and the estimation processes are performed individually and simultaneously for all the light cells. The present estimators mainly sense the first derivative, or the slope of the signal at each light cell output , see column 2 lines 58-67 and column 3, lines 1-6)
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the measurement of photon flux and its derivatives of Shefer with Graves to provide the measure of the light flux that reaches a detector, and the motivation is to minimize the sensor saturation effect and provide maximum achievable SNR.
Regarding claim 10, Graves discloses the sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the photocells are spaced from each adjacent photocell by a predefined distance ;(the alignment system with four quadrants and are arranged as the quad-cell in the four equidistant quadrants (I, II, III and IV); see paragraph 18 and figure 3).
Claims 7, 8 and 13 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Bashir et al; (Signal Acquisition With Photon-Counting Detector Arrays in Free-Space Optical Communications- April 2020 attached)
Regarding 7, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor of claim 6, wherein plurality of photocells are arranged in a quadratic matrix.
In a related field of endeavor, Bashir discloses the sensor of claim 6, wherein plurality of photocells are arranged in a quadratic matrix ;(the contours of incident light intensity and the resulting photodetections for a 4×4 detector array in square shape, see figure 2a).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the quadratic or square shape of photocells in an array of Bashir with Graves and Shefer to provide an array of smaller detectors for minimizing the probability of error as compared to one large detector which has the same size, and the motivation is increased detection efficiency.
Regarding 8, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor of claim 7, wherein the plurality of photocells include four photocells in a two-by-two quadratic arrangement configured to receive at least one optical signal.
In a related field of endeavor, Bashir discloses the sensor of claim 7, wherein the plurality of photocells include four photocells in a two-by-two quadratic arrangement configured to receive at least one optical signal ;(the contours of incident light intensity and the resulting photodetections for a 4×4 detector array in square shape different locations of photo detection, see figure 2a). Motivation same as claim 7.
Regarding 13, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of photocells has a quadrilateral shape.
In a related field of endeavor, Bashir discloses the sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of photocells has a quadrilateral shape ;(the contours of incident light intensity and the resulting photodetections for a 4×4 detector array in square (quadrilateral) shape, see figure 2a). Motivation same as claim 7.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Izuhara et al; (US 2023/0213713).
Regarding 9, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier.
In a related field of endeavor, Izuhara discloses the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier ;(silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a single photon avalanche diode SPAD array in which cells are connected in parallel, see paragraph 29 and figure 3).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the silicon photomultiplier of Izuhara with Graves and Shefer to provide very sensitive optical detector and the motivation is to provide ultra-sensitive optical detector with high-speed response and a large aperture.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Kingsbury et al; (US 9813151).
Regarding 11, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 Hz-1 KHz.
In a related field of endeavor, Kingsbury discloses the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the first output signal is a pointing signal is between 100 Hz-1 KHz (MEMS micromirror for fine pointing and tracking with a steering range of about +/−1.25° or about +/−2.86° or about +/−5.73° and a bandwidth about 300 Hz, or of up to 200 Hz, or of up to 1 kHz, see column 15, lines 18-23 and figure 2).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the output signal frequency of Kingsbury with Graves and Shefer point the optical transmitter toward a remote terminal with an accuracy range and the motivation is increased accuracy range of pointing and tracking mechanism.
Regarding 12, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 MHz.
In a related field of endeavor, Kingsbury discloses the sensor system of claim 6, wherein the second output signal is a free space optical signal at 200 MHz ;( the transmitter is operated at fslot≧200 MHz, and the modulation order (M) is varied to achieve a variety of link rates, see column 23, lines 62-65).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the output signal frequency of Kingsbury with Graves and Shefer to provide an optical transmitter for free spce optical signal communication and the motivation is achieve a variety of link rates.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098).
Regarding claim 14, Graves discloses an optical communication system ,( free space optical communication (FSO) node 10 with detection and alignment sensor 12, see figure 2) comprising: a laser; (an optical transmitter 23 to generate the optical signal, see paragraph 22 and figure 4) a fine pointing system configured to direct an output of the laser in a direction according to a control signal;( a co-bore sighted beam steering unit 27 that can align the beams with the internal optics, see paragraph 22 and figure 4) an optical sensor configured to detect an optical signal ;( detection sensor 12 and alignment sensor 14 having a common optical receive path for receiving an optical signal, see paragraph 17 and figure 3) impinging thereon and simultaneously produce a first output signal and a second output signal,(a portion of the received beam falls on the alignment sensor 14 and a portion of the receive beam falls on the detection sensor 12, see paragraph 15 and figure 2) and a controller ;(PAT controller 21, see figure 4) configured to: receive the first and second output signals from the optical sensor; (the received alignment sensor 24 passes at least a portion of the light to the received detection sensor 22 such that these two sensors are along the same beam path, see paragraph 22 and figure 4) generate the control signal according to the first output signal from the optical sensor;( The alignment sensor 24 communications with PAT controller 21 to adjust the optics and beam steering in response to the detected signal, see paragraph 24 and figure 4) and generate a communication output signal according to the second output signal from the optical sensor ;(at least a portion of the light to the received is send to the detection sensor 22 and the detection sensor 22 communications with the FSO modem to analyze and decode the received optical signals once converted to electrical form, see paragraph 22 and figure 4).
However, Graves does not explicitly disclose wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the optical signal impinging on the optical sensor and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the optical signal impinging on the optical sensor.
In a related field of endeavor, Shefer discloses wherein the first output signal represents instantaneous photon flux of the optical signal impinging on the optical sensor and the second output signal represents a derivative of the instantaneous photon flux of the optical signal impinging on the optical sensor ;( the photon flux that reaches each photodetector in an array of sensors and the desired estimate of the photon flux is obtained via a weighted combination of several time derivatives of the sensors outputs and the estimation processes are performed individually and simultaneously for all the light cells. The present estimators mainly sense the first derivative, or the slope of the signal at each light cell output , see column 2 lines 58-67 and column 3, lines 1-6).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the measurement of photon flux and its derivatives of Shefer with Graves to provide the measure of the light flux that reaches a detector, and the motivation is to minimize the sensor saturation effect and provide maximum achievable SNR.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Graves et al; (US 2017/0054499) in view of Shefer (US 6334098) and further in view of Izuhara et al; (US 2023/0213713).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Graves and Shefer does not explicitly disclose the system of claim 14, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier.
In a related field of endeavor, Izuhara disclose the system of claim 14, wherein the optical sensor comprises a silicon photomultiplier ;(silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a single photon avalanche diode SPAD array in which cells are connected in parallel, see paragraph 29 and figure 3).
Thus, it would be obvious for one the ordinary skilled int eh art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine the silicon photomultiplier of Izuhara with Graves and Shefer to provide very sensitive optical detector and the motivation is to provide ultra-sensitive optical detector with high-speed response and a large aperture.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is reproduced below.
a. Hollmann et al; (US 2019/0361098) discloses photo detector array contains multiple photon detector elements 204 connected in parallel where each photon detector element is configured to generate corresponding photon pulse output signals based on sensing photons in the received reflected light, see figure 2a.
b. Leslie et al; (WO 2017/216526A1) discloses free space optical communication system receiver (500) comprising a central optical sensor (600); and a plurality of further optical sensors (601 -604) disposed around a peripheral edge of the central optical sensor, see figure 6.
c. Brian et al; (Real Time Photon-Counting Receiver for High Photon Efficiency Optical Communications – 2019 attached) discloses a photon-counting ground receiver based on superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) real-time processing for applications to space-to-ground photon starved links, see figure 2b.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMRITBIR K SANDHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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/AMRITBIR K SANDHU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634