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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/25/2024 was considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign mentioned in the description:
Page 8, lines 5-6: low-density parity check (LDPC)-coded binary phase shift keying (BPSK) 402.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character not mentioned in the description:
Reference character 404 in Fig. 4A.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Page 5, line 30: "the transited signal" should read "the transmitted signal"
Page 6, line 11: "than the covert sensor will start" should read "then the covert sensor will start"
Page 8, line 9: "may improve the covert" should read "may improve the covertness"
Page 10, line 4: "to effectively reduces" should read "to effectively reduce"
Page 10, lines 23: "are allow for additional signaling" should read "allow for additional signaling"
Page 10, line 27: "link established between" should read "link is established between"
Page 10, line 28: "encoded and decoded" should read "encode and decode"
Page 11, line 3: "corelated to transmission times" should read "correlated to transmission times"
Page 12, line 11: "transmit and receive codeword packets" should read "transmitted and received codeword packets"
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities:
"the waveform generator and encoder controls a code length" should read " the waveform generator and encoder control a code length".
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "first and second signals" in line 26. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. This limitation is unclear as there are both “one or more signals” formed by the optical detector (Page 1, lines 17-18) and “first and second outputs” delivered by the optical splitter (Page 1, lines 9-10) in the independent Claim 1. For examination purposes, Claim 11 will be read as if the cited “first and second signals” refer to the “first and second outputs”.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "wavefront generator" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, Claim 14 will be read as if the cited “wavefront generator” refers to the “waveform generator” in Claim 1 (Page 1, line 5).
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.
Claims 1, 4, 9, 11, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Crouch et al. (20190011558A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Crouch teaches:
A covert sensor, comprising:
a light source configured to generate broadband light ([0007]: “In a first set of embodiments, a method includes modulating an optical signal from a laser to produce a broadband optical signal”);
a waveform generator ([0093]: “digital waveform source, e.g., modulation signal module 272”) and encoder configured to generate a sequence of coded waveforms for a narrow-band signal ([0081]: “The digital code module 272 in the processing system 250 sends an electrical signal that indicates a digital code of symbols to be imposed as phase changes on the optical carrier”);
a phase modulator configured to modulate the broadband light with the sequence of coded waveforms and output modulated broadband light ([0065]: “A laser source 212 emits a carrier wave 201 that is phase or frequency modulated in modulator 282 a, before or after splitter 216, to produce a phase coded or chirped optical signal 203”);
an optical splitter configured to deliver a portion of the modulated broadband light to first and second outputs ([0065: “A splitter 216 splits the modulated (or, as shown, the unmodulated) optical signal”]);
a transmitting aperture configured to receive light from the first output and radiate the light in a free-space beam towards a target ([0070]: “scanning optics 218 including transmission/receiver optics 319”);
an optical delay configured to receive light from the second output and to delay the light to provide a local oscillator ([0065]: “In some embodiments, the reference path 220 introduces a known delay sufficient for reference beam 207 b…In some embodiments, the reference beam 207 b is called the local oscillator (LO) signal”);
a receiving aperture configured to receive light including coded waveforms from the target ([0070]: “scanning optics 218 including transmission/receiver optics 319”);
an optical detector configured to mix the received light with the local oscillator to form one or more signals ([0075]: “The returned signal is directed by the optical coupler, e.g., circulator 318, to the combiner 384 as optical mixer 284, where the return optical signal is mixed with the reference optical signal (LO)”); and
a control circuit ([0007]: “the method includes determining on a processor a signed Doppler frequency shift of the returned optical signal”) configured to process the one or more signals to estimate a phase of the light received by the receiving aperture relative to a phase of light radiated by the transmitting aperture to estimate a range to the target ([0092]: “The approach also takes advantage of the phase difference of the I/Q signals to construct a complex signal for the correlation to determine range”).
Regarding Claim 4, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the waveform generator and encoder generate the coded waveforms for a signal using phase shift keying ([0054]: “In this system, the demodulator determines the changes in the phase of the received signal rather than the phase (relative to a reference wave) itself. Since this scheme depends on the difference between successive phases, it is termed differential phase-shift keying (DPSK)”).
Regarding Claim 9, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the control circuit decodes the coded waveforms in the received light and compares them to the coded waveforms radiated by the transmitting aperture to refine the delay ([0058]: “In phase coded ranging, the arrival of the phase coded reflection is detected in the return by cross correlating the transmitted signal or other reference signal with the returned signal”).
Regarding Claim 11, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the first and second signals are in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals ([0081]: “This embodiment uses binary phase encoding with the two phases separated by π/2 but with optical separation of in-phase and quadrature components rather than electrical separation”).
Regarding Claim 12, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the optical delay includes a frequency shifter ([0136]: “In other embodiments, the frequency shifter is added instead to the optical path of the returned beam 291 or to the reference path 220”), wherein the optical detector is a direct detector or a heterodyne detector ([0076]: “The coincident signals at the combiner 384 produce a mixed optical signal with a beat frequency related to a difference in frequency and phase and amplitude of the two optical signals being mixed, and an output depending on the function of the combiner 384. As used herein, down mixing refers to optical heterodyne detection”).
Regarding Claim 14, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the wavefront generator and encoder are configured to encode messages in a series of the coded waveforms ([0097]: “a transceiver, e.g., a LIDAR system, is configured to transmit phase-encoded optical signals based on input of a phase code sequence”).
Regarding Claim 15, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the control circuit includes a decoder to decode the coded waveforms to recover the narrow-band signal ([0097]: “”).
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.
Claims 2, 3, 6, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Sychev (US20110206204A1).
Regarding Claim 2, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch does not teach, whereas Sychev teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the light source is configured to generate broadband light in one of the C, S or L bands having a bandwidth of at least 30 nm ([0114]: “Hereinafter the necessary main technical characteristics are introduced: C, L wave bands C-band 1528 nm to 1565 nm, L-band 1566 nm to 1606 nm”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the LIDAR encoding system as taught by Crouch to specifically have a broadband light source to generate light with a bandwidth of at least 30nm as taught by Sychev with a reasonable expectation of success. This feature is known in the art for LIDAR encoding to ensure that the system would have a broadband source as an optical carrier signal to encode a narrowband message for covert transmission.
Regarding Claim 3, which depends from rejected Claim 2, Sychev further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 2, wherein the light source comprises one of an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source, a light emitting diode (LED), and a laser with rotating ground glass to generate the broadband light ([0103]: “The OSNR could be adjusted between 10 dB and 30 dB, using two attenuators and a 3 dB coupler combining an ASE noise source and the modulated signal”) and an optical amplifier to amplify the broadband light ([0074]: “Optical Amplifier Module (OAM FIG. 1.)”)
Regarding Claim 6, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Sychev further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, further comprising: a spontaneous emission noise source configured to add noise to the modulated broadband light ([0103]: “The OSNR could be adjusted between 10 dB and 30 dB, using two attenuators and a 3 dB coupler combining an ASE noise source and the modulated signal”).
Regarding Claim 7, which depends from rejected Claim 6, Sychev further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 6, wherein an average power of the additional noise is less than an average power of the modulated light ([0098]: Test Results - The OSNR was measured with a standard optical spectrum analyzer using the linear interpolation method and a new OSA using the OPS method. The measurement results at the test access points A to D (FIG. 10) representing an OSNR range from 33 dB to 22 dB”).
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Hall et al. (US20220209812A1).
Regarding Claim 5, which depends from rejected Claim 4, Crouch does not teach, whereas Hall teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 4, wherein the waveform generator and encoder control a code length ([0075]: “The chirp modulator 540 modulates a fixed length of data or code (e.g., coded data from the channel coder 520) to a chirp symbol that represents that fixed length of data or code”) to spread the narrow-band signal in frequency ([0070]: “The chirp division multiplexing module 530 implements…Chirp Spread Spectrum, which utilizes chirp pulses for the transmission of each symbol of data…A single symbol of data is spread over the entire bandwidth of the chirp pulse”) such that an amplitude is less than a detection threshold ([0052]: “The upchirp pipeline may receive the training up chirps and process them through a FFT block 206. Results of the FFT block 206…may be examined by logic in the up chirp pipeline to determine whether the value in the FFT Accumulator exceeds a signal detection threshold”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the LIDAR encoding system as taught by Crouch to utilize spread spectrum techniques to spread an encoded chirp signal’s frequency across a wider bandwidth as taught by Hall with a reasonable expectation of success. This feature is known in the art for LIDAR encoding to ensure secure communications and resistance against detection, noise, and interference.
Regarding Claim 15, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Hall further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the control circuit includes a decoder to decode the coded waveforms to recover the narrow-band signal ([0111]: “The security/decryption module 838, which performs a complimentary (e.g., the inverse) function of the security/encryption module 808, may decrypt (or remove security from, for example) the ciphered coded data stream to enable decoding of the coded data stream”).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch and Sychev as applied to Claims 1 and 6 above, and further in view of Smyth et al. (US20190215058A1).
Regarding Claim 8, which depends from rejected Claim 6, Crouch and Sychev do not teach, whereas Smyth teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 6, wherein an average power of the coded waveform and the additional noise is less than an average power of thermal background noise between the transmit and receive apertures ([0109]: “The beacons' spectral power density may operate below the thermal noise level for the band itself.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the LIDAR encoding system as taught by Crouch and the broadband light source and spontaneous emission noise source as taught by Sychev together with the communication system operating below the level of thermal background noise as taught by Smyth with a reasonable expectation of success. This feature is known in the art for communication systems to ensure covert transmission of a signal by concealing it within thermal noise.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Tertinek et al. (US20230268954A1).
Regarding Claim 10, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch does not teach, whereas Tertinek teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein a code length is longer than a time-of-flight between the transmitting and receiving aperture ([0049]: “It is noted that the time of flight (ToF) over the different paths is in general significantly smaller than the packet length”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the LIDAR encoding system as taught by Crouch to allow for code lengths longer than the time-of-flight paths as taught by Tertinek with a reasonable expectation of success. This feature is known in the art for LIDAR encoding to ensure secure transmission of variable-length coded messages independent of the TOF distance.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Santhoff et al. (US20050111346A1).
Regarding Claim 13, which depends from rejected Claim 1, Crouch does not teach, whereas Santhoff teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 1, wherein the control circuit includes a phase lock loop (PLL) filter ([0132]: “Demodulation of FM is usually accomplished using a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit”), wherein the optical detector is a direct detector, a homodyne or a quasi-homodyne detector ([0075]: “Since the carrier is not present in the received signal a coherent or homodyne receiver may be used to demodulate the DSB-SC signal”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the LIDAR encoding system as taught by Crouch with the PLL circuit and homodyne detector as taught by Santhoff with a reasonable expectation of success. This feature is known in the art for LIDAR systems to demodulate signals that have been encoded for covert communications.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Hall and Sychev.
Regarding Claim 16, Crouch teaches:
A covert sensor, comprising:
a light source configured to generate broadband light ([0007]: “In a first set of embodiments, a method includes modulating an optical signal from a laser to produce a broadband optical signal”);
a waveform generator ([0093]: “digital waveform source, e.g., modulation signal module 272”) and encoder configured to generate a sequence of coded waveforms for a narrow-band signal ([0081]: “The digital code module 272 in the processing system 250 sends an electrical signal that indicates a digital code of symbols to be imposed as phase changes on the optical carrier”);
a phase modulator configured to modulate the broadband light with the sequence of coded waveforms and output modulated broadband light ([0065]: “A laser source 212 emits a carrier wave 201 that is phase or frequency modulated in modulator 282 a, before or after splitter 216, to produce a phase coded or chirped optical signal 203”);
an optical splitter configured to deliver a portion of the modulated broadband light to first and second outputs ([0065: “A splitter 216 splits the modulated (or, as shown, the unmodulated) optical signal”]);
a transmitting aperture configured to receive light from the first output and radiate the light in a free-space beam towards a target ([0070]: “scanning optics 218 including transmission/receiver optics 319”);
an optical delay configured to receive light from the second output and to delay the light to provide a local oscillator ([0065]: “In some embodiments, the reference path 220 introduces a known delay sufficient for reference beam 207 b…In some embodiments, the reference beam 207 b is called the local oscillator (LO) signal”);
a receiving aperture configured to receive light including coded waveforms from the target ([0070]: “scanning optics 218 including transmission/receiver optics 319”);
an optical detector configured to mix the received light with the local oscillator to form one or more signals ([0075]: “The returned signal is directed by the optical coupler, e.g., circulator 318, to the combiner 384 as optical mixer 284, where the return optical signal is mixed with the reference optical signal (LO)”); and
a control circuit ([0007]: “the method includes determining on a processor a signed Doppler frequency shift of the returned optical signal”) configured to process the one or more signals to estimate a phase of the light received by the receiving aperture relative to a phase of light radiated by the transmitting aperture to estimate a range to the target ([0092]: “The approach also takes advantage of the phase difference of the I/Q signals to construct a complex signal for the correlation to determine range”).
Crouch does not teach, whereas Hall teaches:
a waveform generator and encoder configured to generate a sequence of coded waveforms for a narrow-band signal, wherein a code length is selected ([0075]: “The chirp modulator 540 modulates a fixed length of data or code (e.g., coded data from the channel coder 520) to a chirp symbol that represents that fixed length of data or code”) to spread the narrow-band signal in frequency ([0070]: “The chirp division multiplexing module 530 implements…Chirp Spread Spectrum, which utilizes chirp pulses for the transmission of each symbol of data…A single symbol of data is spread over the entire bandwidth of the chirp pulse”) such that an amplitude is less than a detection threshold ([0052]: “The upchirp pipeline may receive the training up chirps and process them through a FFT block 206. Results of the FFT block 206…may be examined by logic in the up chirp pipeline to determine whether the value in the FFT Accumulator exceeds a signal detection threshold”); and
a control circuit configured to time-correlate the transmitted and received coded waveforms to adjust the delay ([0084]: “the use of a linear chirp signal allows for a special (i.e., simplified) case of cross correlation…When a received preamble chirp waveform 605 or data chirp waveform 605 is found in the product, one of the FFT bins will be significantly larger in value than any other (i.e., BT>>1). The specific bin number will correlate directly to the TX/RX timing offset for a preamble chirp waveform 605 and will correlate directly to a data value for a data chirp waveform 605”).
Crouch and Hall do not teach, whereas Sychev teaches:
a spontaneous emission noise source configured to add noise to the modulated broadband light ([0103]: “The OSNR could be adjusted between 10 dB and 30 dB, using two attenuators and a 3 dB coupler combining an ASE noise source and the modulated signal”);
Claims 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch in view of Sychev and Smyth.
Regarding Claim 17, Crouch teaches:
A covert sensor, comprising:
a light source configured to generate broadband light ([0007]: “In a first set of embodiments, a method includes modulating an optical signal from a laser to produce a broadband optical signal”);
a waveform generator ([0093]: “digital waveform source, e.g., modulation signal module 272”) and encoder configured to generate a sequence of coded waveforms for a narrow-band signal ([0081]: “The digital code module 272 in the processing system 250 sends an electrical signal that indicates a digital code of symbols to be imposed as phase changes on the optical carrier”); and
a phase modulator configured to modulate light received from the light source with the sequence of coded waveforms received from the waveform generator and output modulated broadband light ([0065]: “A laser source 212 emits a carrier wave 201 that is phase or frequency modulated in modulator 282 a, before or after splitter 216, to produce a phase coded or chirped optical signal 203”).
Crouch does not teach, whereas Sychev teaches:
a spontaneous emission noise source configured to add noise to the modulated broadband light ([0103]: “The OSNR could be adjusted between 10 dB and 30 dB, using two attenuators and a 3 dB coupler combining an ASE noise source and the modulated signal”).
Crouch and Sychev do not teach, whereas Smyth teaches:
a spontaneous emission noise source configured to add noise to the modulated broadband light such that the coded waveforms are hidden in the noise ([0109]: “The beacons' spectral power density may operate below the thermal noise level for the band itself.”).
Regarding Claim 18, which depends from rejected Claim 17, Sychev further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 17, wherein the light source comprises an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source ([0103]: “The OSNR could be adjusted between 10 dB and 30 dB, using two attenuators and a 3 dB coupler combining an ASE noise source and the modulated signal”) to generate the broadband light in one of the C, S or L bands having a bandwidth of at least 30 nm ([0114]: “Hereinafter the necessary main technical characteristics are introduced: C, L wave bands C-band 1528 nm to 1565 nm, L-band 1566 nm to 1606 nm”) and an optical amplifier to amplify the broadband light ([0074]: “Optical Amplifier Module (OAM FIG. 1.)”).
Regarding Claim 20, which depends from rejected Claim 17, Sychev further teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 17, wherein an average power of the additional noise is less than an average power of the modulated light ([0098]: Test Results - The OSNR was measured with a standard optical spectrum analyzer using the linear interpolation method and a new OSA using the OPS method. The measurement results at the test access points A to D (FIG. 10) representing an OSNR range from 33 dB to 22 dB”).
Sychev does not teach, whereas Smyth further teaches:
wherein an average power of the coded waveform and the additional noise is less than an average power of thermal background noise between the transmit and receive apertures ([0109]: “The beacons' spectral power density may operate below the thermal noise level for the band itself.”).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crouch, Sychev, and Smyth as applied to claim 17 above, and further in view of Hall.
Regarding Claim 19, which depends from rejected Claim 17, Crouch, Sychev, and Smyth do not teach, whereas Hall teaches:
The covert sensor of claim 17, wherein the waveform generator and encoder controls a code length ([0075]: “The chirp modulator 540 modulates a fixed length of data or code (e.g., coded data from the channel coder 520) to a chirp symbol that represents that fixed length of data or code”) to spread the signal in frequency ([0070]: “The chirp division multiplexing module 530 implements…Chirp Spread Spectrum, which utilizes chirp pulses for the transmission of each symbol of data…A single symbol of data is spread over the entire bandwidth of the chirp pulse”) such that an amplitude is less than a detection threshold ([0052]: “The upchirp pipeline may receive the training up chirps and process them through a FFT block 206. Results of the FFT block 206…may be examined by logic in the up chirp pipeline to determine whether the value in the FFT Accumulator exceeds a signal detection threshold”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN C NATHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0331. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Isam Alsomiri can be reached at (571) 272-6970. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/K.C.N./Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ISAM A ALSOMIRI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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