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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 8-9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 states “wherein at least a portion of the laser light being is used as an emitted light beam”, this seems to be a typo. Examiner interprets the bolded portion as “is being used”
Claim 1 states “an 1 x N optical transmission apparatus”, this seems to be a typo. Examiner interprets the bolded portion as “a 1 x N”.
Claim 8 states “a quantity of output terminals of a second optical switch unit in the same stage of the M stages are same or different”, this seems to be a typo. Examiner interprets the bolded portion as “are the same”.
Claim 9 states “two adjacent stages of the M stages are same or different”, this seems to be a typo. Examiner interprets the bolded portion as “are the same”.
Appropriate correction is required.
The claims, specifically 7, 16, and 17, are objected to because they include reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses.
Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, and 5-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Davydenko (US 20230176214).
Regarding claim 1, Davydenko teaches:
A multi-channel Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system (#14 of Fig. 3, scanning device), comprising:
a laser light source (#16 of Fig. 3, light source) configured to generate a laser light [40], wherein at least a portion of the laser light being is used as an emitted light beam [42];
an 1×N optical transmission apparatus (#28 of Fig. 3, deflection unit), comprising one input terminal (#M of Fig. 5 shows one input terminal for the distribution matrix) and N output terminals (Fig. 5 shows four output terminals for switches #S21 and #S22) and configured to receive the emitted light beam [46] and transmit the emitted light beam from the input terminal to an i-th output terminal of the N output terminals [43], wherein N and i are both positive integers, N≥2, and 1≤i≤N (N = 4, i can be any switch output 1 to 4);
a polarization splitter-rotator (#26 of Fig. 3, polarization rotator-splitter) between the laser light source and the 1×N light transmission apparatus (polarization rotator-splitter #26 is shown between the laser #16 and the distribution matrix #M in Fig. 1);
N light-emitting terminals connected to the N output terminals in one-to-one correspondence (#M of Fig. 5 shows four free space couplers #29 connected to the four output terminals of switches #S21 and #S22), wherein an i-th light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals is configured to emit the emitted light beam [43], and the emitted light beam is reflected to generate a reflected light beam after the emitted light beam encounters an obstacle [46];
N light-receiving terminals connected to the N output terminals in one-to-one correspondence (#M of Fig. 5 shows four free space couplers #29 connected to the four output terminals of switches #S21 and #S22), wherein an i-th light-receiving terminal is configured to receive the reflected light beam [46], and the reflected light beam is received by the 1×N optical transmission apparatus and transmitted from the i-th output terminal to the input terminal [46-47]; and a detection apparatus, connected to the polarization splitter-rotator (combiner #30 and detector #32 of Fig. 3, the combiner is shown connected to the polarization rotator-splitter #26), and configured to detect the reflected light beam [47].
Regarding claim 5, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 1, wherein the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus is connected to the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus in a time-division manner ([43 and 49], the output light is switched sequentially to each free space coupler).
Regarding claim 6, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 1, wherein the multi-channel LiDAR system further comprises:
a lens assembly configured to perform collimation and deflection on the emitted light beam emitted by an i-th light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals (#31 of Fig. 3, collimating optics, [43 and 49]), and perform focusing on the reflected light beam to be coupled into an i-th light-receiving terminal of the N light-receiving terminals ([49], the free space couplers are arrayed in the focal plane of the collimating optics); and
a beam-scanning guiding apparatus (#35 of Fig. 3, mechanical scanning unit) on a side, away from the i-th light-emitting terminal and the i-th light-receiving terminal, of the lens assembly (mechanical scanning unit #35 is shown on an opposite side of the collimating optics #31 from deflection unit #28) and configured to adjust an emergent direction of the emitted light beam emitted from the i-th light-emitting terminal over time to achieve beam-scanning [43].
Regarding claim 7, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 1, wherein the 1×N optical transmission apparatus comprises:
M stages of cascaded optical switch units (#M of Fig. 5 shows 2 stages of switches), wherein each of the optical switch units comprises one input terminal (switch #S11 of Fig. 5 shows one input) and a plurality of output terminals (switch #S11 of Fig. 5 shows two outputs),
an output terminal of an optical switch unit in a j-th stage is connected to an input terminal of an optical switch unit 21 in a (j+1)-th stage in one-to-one correspondence (outputs of switch #S11 are coupled to inputs of switches #S21 and #S22 in a one to one correspondence), M and j are positive integers, M≥2, 1≤j<M (M=2, j=1);
an input terminal of an optical switch unit in a first stage is the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (#M of Fig. 5 shows one input terminal for the distribution matrix), output terminals of optical switch units in the M-th stage are the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (#M of Fig. 5 shows waveguides connected to the switches #S21 and #S22 outputting light).
Regarding claim 8, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 7, wherein a quantity of output terminals of a first optical switch unit and a quantity of output terminals of a second optical switch unit in the same stage of the M stages are same or different (switches #S21 and #S22 are shown having the same number of outputs).
Regarding claim 9, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 7, wherein a quantity of output terminals of an optical switch unit and a quantity of output terminals of an optical switch unit in two adjacent stages of the M stages are same or different (switches #S11 and #S21 are shown having the same number of outputs).
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) 2, 4, 11-12, 14, 16, and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydenko.
Regarding claim 2, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 1, wherein the laser light is a frequency-sweep light beam [40], and the multi-channel LiDAR system further comprises:
a beam splitter (#22 of Fig. 3, splitter) configured to split the frequency-sweep beam into the emitted beam and a local-oscillation light beam [42], wherein frequency modulation waveforms of the emitted light beam and the local-oscillation light beam are identical (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that FM modulation of a local oscillation beam produced by splitter #22 would be identical to the emitted beam);
wherein the detection apparatus comprises:
a mixer (#30 of Fig. 3, combiner) configured to receive the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam, and mix the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam to obtain a mixed beam [47]; and
a detector (detector #32 of Fig. 3) configured to receive the mixed beam and detect a beat frequency between the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam to obtain a detection result [47].
Regarding claim 4, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein a light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals and a light-receiving terminal, corresponding to the light-emitting terminal, of the N light-receiving terminals are coaxial ([43 and 49] state that the free space couplers #29 emit the outgoing light, [46] states that the free space couplers #29 also receive the incoming light, thus the emitting and receiving terminals are coaxial as they are the same coupler).
Regarding claim 11, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 7, wherein each of the optical switch units comprises a first input terminal (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with one input terminal), a first output terminal and a second output terminal, (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with two output terminals) and can be switched between a first switch state and a second switch state (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the dashed and solid lines shown in Fig. 5 show two different switch states);
when the each of the optical switch units is in the first switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal; (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the switches shown in Fig. 5 would connect the input to one of the outputs and block the other output so that the effect of selectively directing to one of a plurality of output waveguides [43] could be achieved, the first output could be connected and the second output blocked or vice versa).
when the each of the optical switch units is in the second switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal (vice versa mentioned above)
Regarding claim 12, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus is connected to the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus in a time-division manner ([43 and 49], the output light is switched sequentially to each free space coupler).
Regarding claim 14, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein the multi-channel LiDAR system further comprises:
a lens assembly configured to perform collimation and deflection on the emitted light beam emitted by an i-th light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals (#31 of Fig. 3, collimating optics, [43 and 49]), and perform focusing on the reflected light beam to be coupled into an i-th light-receiving terminal of the N light-receiving terminals ([49], the free space couplers are arrayed in the focal plane of the collimating optics); and
a beam-scanning guiding apparatus (#35 of Fig. 3, mechanical scanning unit) on a side, away from the i-th light-emitting terminal and the i-th light-receiving terminal, of the lens assembly (mechanical scanning unit #35 is shown on an opposite side of the collimating optics #31 from deflection unit #28) and configured to adjust an emergent direction of the emitted light beam emitted from the i-th light-emitting terminal over time to achieve beam-scanning [43].
Regarding claim 16, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein the 1×N optical transmission apparatus comprises:
M stages of cascaded optical switch units (#M of Fig. 5 shows 2 stages of switches), wherein each of the optical switch units comprises one input terminal (switch #S11 of Fig. 5 shows one input) and a plurality of output terminals (switch #S11 of Fig. 5 shows two outputs),
an output terminal of an optical switch unit in a j-th stage is connected to an input terminal of an optical switch unit 21 in a (j+1)-th stage in one-to-one correspondence (outputs of switch #S11 are coupled to inputs of switches #S21 and #S22 in a one to one correspondence), M and j are positive integers, M≥2, 1≤j<M (M=2, j=1);
an input terminal of an optical switch unit in a first stage is the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (#M of Fig. 5 shows one input terminal for the distribution matrix), output terminals of optical switch units in the M-th stage are the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (#M of Fig. 5 shows waveguides connected to the switches #S21 and #S22 outputting light).
Regarding claim 18, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 8, wherein each of the optical switch units comprises a first input terminal (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with one input terminal), a first output terminal and a second output terminal, (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with two output terminals) and can be switched between a first switch state and a second switch state (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the dashed and solid lines shown in Fig. 5 show two different switch states);
when the each of the optical switch units is in the first switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal; (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the switches shown in Fig. 5 would connect the input to one of the outputs and block the other output so that the effect of selectively directing to one of a plurality of output waveguides [43] could be achieved, the first output could be connected and the second output blocked or vice versa).
when the each of the optical switch units is in the second switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal (vice versa mentioned above)
Regarding claim 19, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 9, wherein each of the optical switch units comprises a first input terminal (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with one input terminal), a first output terminal and a second output terminal, (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with two output terminals) and can be switched between a first switch state and a second switch state (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the dashed and solid lines shown in Fig. 5 show two different switch states);
when the each of the optical switch units is in the first switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal; (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the switches shown in Fig. 5 would connect the input to one of the outputs and block the other output so that the effect of selectively directing to one of a plurality of output waveguides [43] could be achieved, the first output could be connected and the second output blocked or vice versa).
when the each of the optical switch units is in the second switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal (vice versa mentioned above)
Claim(s) 10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydenko as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Davydenko (US 20210364607) hereafter referred to as Vladimir .
Regarding claim 10, Davydenko teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 7
Davydenko does not teach:
wherein the optical switch units comprise at least one of an Electro-Optic (EO) switch or a Thermo-Optic (TO) switch.
However, Vladimir teaches:
wherein the optical switch units comprise at least one of an Electro-Optic (EO) switch or a Thermo-Optic (TO) switch [23]
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the switches of Davydenko to be electro-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometers similar to Vladimir with a reasonable expectation of success. This would have the predictable result of making the device more suitable for use in an autonomous vehicle (Vladimir: [23]).
Regarding claim 20, Davydenko, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 10, wherein each of the optical switch units comprises a first input terminal (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with one input terminal), a first output terminal and a second output terminal, (Switches #S11, S21 and S22 of Fig. 5 are shown with two output terminals) and can be switched between a first switch state and a second switch state (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the dashed and solid lines shown in Fig. 5 show two different switch states);
when the each of the optical switch units is in the first switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal; (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the switches shown in Fig. 5 would connect the input to one of the outputs and block the other output so that the effect of selectively directing to one of a plurality of output waveguides [43] could be achieved, the first output could be connected and the second output blocked or vice versa).
when the each of the optical switch units is in the second switch state, an optical path is formed between the first input terminal and the second output terminal and light blocking is formed between the first input terminal and the first output terminal (vice versa mentioned above)
Claim(s) 1-3, 13, 15, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hajati et al. (US 20250327912) in view of Davydenko.
Regarding claim 1, Hajati teaches:
A multi-channel Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system (#100 of Fig. 1, scanning transceiver array device), comprising:
a laser light source (#206 of Fig. 6, laser) configured to generate a laser light, wherein at least a portion of the laser light being is used as an emitted light beam ([80-82] PIC #108 of Fig. 2 is fed by laser #206 and emits the light);
an 1×N optical transmission apparatus (switch tree formed at switch SW1 #310 of Fig. 3 is a 1x4 transmission apparatus), comprising one input terminal (switch SW1 #310 of Fig. 3 shows one input terminal )and N output terminals (switch tree of SW1 #310 of Fig. 3 shows 4 output terminals) and configured to receive the emitted light beam [84] and transmit the emitted light beam from the input terminal to an i-th output terminal of the N output terminals [84], wherein N and i are both positive integers, N≥2, and 1≤i≤N (N=4, i can be any switch output 1 to 4);
a polarization splitter-rotator (#404 of Fig. 4)
N light-emitting terminals connected to the N output terminals (transceiver cells #314 of Fig. 3, four transceiver cells are shown connected to switch SW1 #310 of Fig. 3) in one-to-one correspondence (Fig. 3 shows that each transceiver cell is connected to a switch output), wherein an i-th light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals is configured to emit the emitted light beam ([84-85]), and the emitted light beam is reflected to generate a reflected light beam after the emitted light beam encounters an obstacle ([91] the incoming beam reflected from the target is directed by PBSR #404 of Fig. 4); N light-receiving terminals connected to the N output terminals (each transceiver cell #314 has an edge coupler #406. [90]) in one-to-one correspondence (Fig. 3 shows that each transceiver cell is connected to a switch output), wherein an i-th light-receiving terminal is configured to receive the reflected light beam ([91] the incoming beam reflected from the target is directed by PBSR #404 of Fig. 4); and
a detection apparatus (2x2 coupler #412 and balanced photodiode pairs #414 of Fig. 4), connected to the polarization splitter-rotator (Fig. 4 shows the PBSR connected to the 2x2 coupler #412), and configured to detect the reflected light beam [91].
Hajati does not teach:
a polarization splitter-rotator between the laser light source and the 1×N light transmission apparatus;
wherein an i-th light-receiving terminal is configured to receive the reflected light beam, and the reflected light beam is received by the 1×N optical transmission apparatus and transmitted from the i-th output terminal to the input terminal
However, Davydenko teaches:
a polarization splitter-rotator between the laser light source and the 1×N light transmission apparatus (#26 of Fig. 3, polarization rotator splitter, the polarization rotator splitter is shown between light source #16 and distribution matrix #M);
wherein an i-th light-receiving terminal is configured to receive the reflected light beam, and the reflected light beam is received by the 1×N optical transmission apparatus and transmitted from the i-th output terminal to the input terminal [46-47]
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use a polarization splitter-rotator between the laser light source and the 1xN transmission apparatus and to receive the reflected light using the 1xN transmission apparatus similar to Davydenko with a reasonable expectation of success. This would have the predictable result of shrinking the LIDAR scanning device by using a single transceiver instead of N, eliminating the need for individual coherent cells in the optical switching network.
Regarding claim 2, Hajati, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 1, wherein the laser light is a frequency-sweep light beam [155], and the multi-channel LiDAR system further comprises:
a beam splitter (#408 of Fig. 4, waveguide) configured to split the frequency-sweep beam into the emitted beam and a local-oscillation light beam [91], wherein frequency modulation waveforms of the emitted light beam and the local-oscillation light beam are identical (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the FM modulation of a local oscillation beam formed by waveguide #408 of Fig. 4 would be identical to the emitted beam)
wherein the detection apparatus comprises:
a mixer (#412 of Fig. 4, 2x2 coupler) configured to receive the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam, and mix the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam to obtain a mixed beam [91]; and
a detector (#414 of Fig. 3, balanced photodiode pairs) configured to receive the mixed beam and detect a beat frequency between the local-oscillation light beam and the reflected light beam to obtain a detection result [155].
Regarding claim 3, Hajati, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein the emitted light beam is a Transverse Electric (TE) mode beam (Fig. 24A shows a PBSR emitting a TE mode beam[124 and 148]), the reflected light beam generated after the TE mode beam is incident onto an obstacle comprises a Transverse Magnetic (TM) mode beam (Fig. 24A shows PBSR receiving a reflected TM mode beam [124 and 148]), the polarization splitter-rotator is configured to transform the TM mode beam into a TE mode beam ([124 and 148], the PR portion of the PBSR converts the received TM beam to TE).
Regarding claim 13, Hajati, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 3, wherein the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus is connected to the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus in a time-division manner. [84]
Regarding claim 15, Hajati, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 2, wherein the multi-channel LiDAR system further comprises:
a lens assembly configured to perform collimation and deflection on the emitted light beam emitted by an i-th light-emitting terminal of the N light-emitting terminals (#104 of Fig. 1, optics, [80]), and perform focusing on the reflected light beam to be coupled into an i-th light-receiving terminal of the N light-receiving terminals (a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the collimating and projecting lenses shown as optics #104 in Fig. 1 would focus returning beams and couple them into the transceiver array #102); and
a beam-scanning guiding apparatus (#106 of Fig. 1, scanner) on a side, away from the i-th light-emitting terminal and the i-th light-receiving terminal, of the lens assembly (optics #104 are shown to be between transceiver array #102 and scanner #106 in Fig. 1) and configured to adjust an emergent direction of the emitted light beam emitted from the i-th light-emitting terminal over time to achieve beam-scanning [80].
As a teaching reference Wikipedia (Collimator, 2021) teaches:
A collimator lens collimates beams from a focal point (Section titled “Optical collimators”). A person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the optics #104 of Hajati would collimate outgoing light, and would focus returning light onto the collimating lens’s focal plane, which would be the edge couplers of the PIC.
Regarding claim 17, Hajati, as modified above, teaches:
The multi-channel LiDAR system according to claim 3, wherein the 1×N optical transmission apparatus comprises:
M stages of cascaded optical switch units (switch tree formed at switch SW1 #310 of Fig. 3 has 2 stages), wherein each of the optical switch units comprises one input terminal and a plurality of output terminals ([83], the switches of Fig. 3 are 1:2 switches), an output terminal of an optical switch unit in a j-th stage is connected to an input terminal of an optical switch unit 21 in a (j+1)-th stage in one-to-one correspondence (Fig. 3 shows each output of switches in first tier #302 connected to a switch in the second tier #304 in a one to one correspondence [85]), M and j are positive integers, M≥2, 1≤j<M (M=2 and j = 1);
an input terminal of an optical switch unit in a first stage is the one input terminal of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (Switch SW1 #310 of Fig. 3 is the one input terminal for the switching tree that it forms), output terminals of optical switch units in the M-th stage are the N output terminals of the 1×N optical transmission apparatus (outputs of switches from second tier #304 are sent to the transceiver cells #314)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Phare et al. (US 20220244360) teaches a similar TE TM emission and reception scheme but uses receiver circuits for both TE and TM components and a PBSR for each output terminal.
Islam et al. (US 20240045146) teaches a similar TE TM emission and reception scheme but uses a multilayered grating coupler and a different PSR placement.
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/A.D.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ISAM A ALSOMIRI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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