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) 1-12 and 30-41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vertikov (US 2014/0276108) in view of Sumi (JP 6,696,762).
Regarding Claims 1 and 30, Vertikov teaches an optoelectronic device and method for optical sensing [0049; 0053], comprising: an array of optical transceiver cells comprising respective optical transducers configured to couple optical radiation between the transceiver cells and a target through respective optical apertures defined by the optical transducers [0071; 0074]; a tunable radiation source, configured to output … radiation while tuning a wavelength of the … radiation over a selected range [0157]; and projection optics, which are configured to project the optical apertures onto respective fields of view on the target, and which comprise a dispersive element, which shifts the fields of view across the target responsively to the tuning of the wavelength [0120; 0170]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach an optical distribution network, coupled to convey the coherent radiation from the radiation source to the optical transceiver cells for transmission via the optical transducers toward the target [Fig 2; 30-32; 0114-0121; 0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0507-0508; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include coherent radiation and an optical distribution network to improve spatial resolution of a generated image signal in a range and depth direction of a measurement target.
Regarding Claims 2 and 31, Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach comprising a planar substrate, wherein the optical transceiver cells are disposed on the substrate, and the optical distribution network comprises multiple waveguides disposed on the substrate [Fig 2; 30-32; 0114-0121; 0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0507-0508; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include waveguides on a substrate to manufacture the optical device in a small form factor.
Regarding Claims 3 and 32, Vertikov also teaches receive the radiation from the waveguides [Fig 12A; 0080; 0107-08]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach wherein the optical distribution network comprises optical switches, and wherein the device comprises a controller, which is configured to actuate the switches so as to select different subsets of the optical transceiver cells that are to receive the coherent radiation from the waveguides [0089; 0114-0121; 0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0507-0508; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include coherent radiation and an optical distribution network to improve spatial resolution of a generated image signal in a range and depth direction of a measurement target.
Regarding Claims 4 and 33, Vertikov also teaches wherein the waveguides are configured as optical buses, and the optical transceiver cells comprise respective taps coupled to extract a portion of the …radiation propagating through the optical buses [0141; 0163]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach coherent radiation [0422; 0507-0508; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include coherent radiation as using 2 or more phases of radiation that differ by a known value increases imaging resolution.
Regarding Claims 5 and 34, Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach wherein the optical transducers comprise grating couplers disposed on a surface of the substrate [0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include grating couplers on a substrate to manufacture the optical device in a small form factor.
Regarding Claims 6 and 35, Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach wherein the optical transducers comprise edge couplers disposed along an edge of the substrate [0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include directional couplers on a substrate to manufacture the optical device in a small form factor.
Regarding Claims 7 and 36, Vertikov also teaches wherein the optical transceiver cells comprise respective receivers, which are coupled to mix a part of …with the optical radiation received from the target by the respective optical transducers and to output electrical signals responsively to the mixed radiation [0105-06; 0163-64]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi teaches the coherent radiation received from the optical distribution network [0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include coherent radiation and an optical distribution network to improve spatial resolution of a generated image signal in a range and depth direction of a measurement target.
Regarding Claims 8 and 37, Vertikov also teaches wherein the dispersive element comprises one or more dispersive elements selected from a set including prisms, gratings, grating prisms, and arrangements of multiple gratings and/or prisms [0120].
Regarding Claims 9 and 38, Vertikov also teaches wherein the optical transducers are arranged along one or more parallel rows in the array, and wherein the dispersive element is configured to shift the fields of view in a scan direction perpendicular to the rows responsively to the scanning of the wavelength [Fig 14A, 20A; 0074; 0120; 0168].
Regarding Claims 10 and 39, Vertikov also teaches wherein the dispersive element is configured to shift the fields of view across the target in a first direction responsively to the scanning of the wavelength [0089; 0120; 0170], and wherein the device comprises an optomechanical scanner, which is configured to shift the fields of view across the target in a second direction, different from the first direction [0089; 0120; 0170].
Regarding Claims 11 and 40, Vertikov also teaches wherein the tunable radiation source is configured to output the … radiation at multiple wavelengths simultaneously, whereby the dispersive element shifts the fields of view at each of the multiple wavelengths by a different, respective angular shift [0101; 0106; 0110; 0120; 0157].
Regarding Claims 12 and 41, Vertikov also teaches direct the radiation at the multiple wavelengths [0170]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi does teach wherein the optical distribution network comprises one or more optical switches, which are configured to direct the coherent radiation at the multiple wavelengths to different, respective sets of the transceiver cells [0114-0121; 0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0422; 0507-0508; 0572; 0578-82]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include coherent radiation and an optical distribution network to improve spatial resolution of a generated image signal in a range and depth direction of a measurement target.
Claim(s) 13-15, 42-44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vertikov (US 2014/0276108) in view of Sumi (JP 6,696,762), as applied to claims 11-12 and 40-41 above, and further in view of Asghari (US 2020/0116842).
Regarding Claims 13 and 42, Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi teaches the coherent radiation [0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0572; 0578-82]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Asghari teaches wherein the one or more optical switches are configured to cycle the multiple wavelengths through the sets of the transceiver cells so that each of the transceiver cells receives and transmits the … radiation at two or more different wavelengths at different, respective times [0039; 0043-45; 0058]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include optical switches to cycle the wavelengths at different, respective times to sample different regions in the field of view of the target.
Regarding Claims 14 and 43, Vertikov also teaches tunable radiation source [0157]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Sumi teaches the coherent radiation [0126-27; 0134-36; 0144-45; 0151; 0155-58; 0572; 0578-82]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Asghari teaches wherein the tunable radiation source comprises multiple laser sources, wherein each of the laser sources outputs a respective beam of the coherent radiation at a respective one of the multiple wavelengths [0039; 0045-46; 0058; 0061]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include multiple laser sources to sample different regions in the field of view of the target.
Regarding Claims 15 and 44, Vertikov also teaches tunable radiation source [0157]. Vertikov does not explicitly teach – but Asghari teaches wherein the tunable radiation source is configured to generate a frequency comb comprising the multiple wavelengths in a single beam 0022; 0039; 0100]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Vertikov to include a frequency comb with multiple wavelengths to simultaneously tune the frequency of the source and the output from the laser.
Conclusion
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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