DETAILED ACTION
This is the first office action on the merits. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 10/22/2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/1/2025, 11/4/2025, and 2/11/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph [0104], trenches 606a and 606b should be trenches 604a and 604b to match the labels in the drawings.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-10 and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doylend et al., US 20180156661 A1 (“Doylend”) in view of Ensher et al., US 11567206 B1 (“Ensher”).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Doylend discloses
a laser configured to output a beam (Fig. 3A, laser 322, Paragraph [0057]);
a modulator configured to receive the beam from the laser and modulate the beam to generate a modulated beam (Fig. 3A, modulator 324, Paragraph [0057]);
a photonic integrated circuit integrating an optical amplifier (Fig. 3A, photonic IC 320, SOA 328, Paragraph [0058]) […]; and
a transceiver chip coupled to the photonic integrated circuit, the transceiver chip configured to emit the amplified beam and receive a reflected beam from a target (Fig. 3A, Phased array 332 and emitter array 334, Paragraph [0059]-[0060]); and
one or more processors (Fig. 3A, autocorrelator 370, Paragraph [0061]) configured to:
determine at least one of a range to the target or a velocity of the target using the reflected beam (Fig. 3A, autocorrelator 370, Paragraph [0061]); and
[…].
Doylend does not teach: An autonomous vehicle control system;
a photonic integrated circuit integrating an optical amplifier and a passive component, the photonic integrated circuit coupled to receive the modulated beam from the modulator at the optical amplifier through a bend in the passive component and generate an amplified beam, wherein an input of the modulated beam and an output of the amplified beam are on a same side of the photonic integrated circuit; and
control operation of an autonomous vehicle responsive to the at least one of the range or the velocity.
However, Ensher teaches a coherent LIDAR system to be used in an autonomous vehicle (Col. 7 lines 63-65). Ensher also teaches a one-sided amplifier on a single chip. The amplifier receives input light and sends the output light through curved waveguides (Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced Doylend’s SOA with Ensher’s optical amplifier. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide an advantage in easier optical alignment between the amplifier and the inputs/outputs to the rest of the Lidar system”, as suggested by Ensher (Col. 7 lines 35-38).
Regarding claim 2 and 16, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1 and the autonomous vehicle system of claim 15, wherein the
Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, does not teach: wherein the optical amplifier is one of an array of optical amplifiers.
However, Ensher teaches an optical amplifier that includes an array of optical amplifiers, specifically a pre-amplifier and post-amplifier (Fig. 2, optical amplifier 16, pre-amplifier 30, post-amplifier 32, Col. 3 lines 50-61).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced Doylend’s SOA with Ensher’s optical amplifier which includes an array of multiple amplifiers. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “reduce the required amount of optical gain, optical gain bandwidth and SNR (noise figure) for a single amplifier”, as suggested by Ensher (Col. 3 lines 62-64).
Regarding claim 3 and 17, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 2 and the autonomous vehicle system of claim 16, wherein an arrangement of the array of optical amplifiers and the array of passive components in the photonic integrated circuit includes each half of the array of passive components positioned parallel to either side of the array of optical amplifiers in the photonic integrated circuit (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 4 and 18, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 2 and the autonomous vehicle system of claim 16, wherein an arrangement of the array of optical amplifiers and the array of passive components in the photonic integrated circuit includes the array of passive components positioned parallel to a particular side of the array of optical amplifiers in the photonic integrated circuit (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 5 and 19, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 4 and the autonomous vehicle system of claim 18, wherein a length of a bend is decreasing in each passive component from an outer passive component to an inner passive component in the array of passive components (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 6, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 2, wherein the array of optical amplifiers includes a gain amplifier providing a particular gain, and an output of the gain amplifier is coupled to an input of the optical amplifier (Ensher, Fig. 2, optical amplifier 16, pre-amplifier 30, post-amplifier 32, Col. 3 lines 50-61).
Regarding claim 7, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the bend in the passive component includes a U-shaped turn (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, waveguides, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 8, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the passive component is monolithically integrated with the optical amplifier in the photonic integrated circuit (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, waveguides, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 9, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes a monolithically integrated spot-size converter, wherein the photonic integrated circuit is optically coupled to an optical waveguide connector (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, waveguides, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Regarding claim 10, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the passive component includes at least one of a total internal reflector, a mirror, a coupler, a splitter, or an optical waveguide (Ensher, Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, waveguides, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doylend in view of Ensher in further view of Nishikawa et al., US 20190317341 A1 (“Nishikawa”).
Regarding claim 11, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1.
Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, does not teach: wherein the optical amplifier includes a structural configuration of an active layer and a guiding layer coupled to the active layer.
However, Nishikawa teaches an optical amplifier with a structural configuration of an active layer and a guiding layer which is a n-type InP layer (Fig. 2, active layer 8, n-type InP layer 6, Paragraph [0057]-[0058]). The active layer may include a multiple quantum well layer (Fig. 2, active layer 8, Paragraph [0059]).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Doylend and Ensher’s optical amplifier to include an active layer and a guiding layer, as taught by Nishikawa. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to have “an advantage that heat dissipation of the active layer [[8]] is excellent, characteristics deterioration at high temperature is reduced, and long-term reliability can be secured”, as suggested by Nishikawa (Paragraph [0076]).
Regarding claim 12, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher and Nishikawa, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 11, wherein the guiding layer includes a particular structure of alternating alloy materials that is configured to dissipate heat (Nishikawa, Fig. 2, n-type InP layer 6, Paragraph [0057]-[0058]; See also Paragraph [0076]).
Regarding claim 13, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher and Nishikawa, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 11, wherein the active layer is an offset bulk quantum mechanical structure or a multi quantum mechanical structure (Nishikawa, Fig. 2, active layer 8, Paragraph [0059]).
Claims 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doylend in view of Ensher in further view of LaChapelle et al., US 20220236417 A1 (“LaChapelle”).
Regarding claim 14, Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, discloses The LIDAR system of claim 1.
Doylend, as modified in view of Ensher, does not teach: wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes a first heat dissipation structure to reduce heat from a lower side of the photonic integrated circuit and a second heat dissipation structure to reduce heat from an upper side of the photonic integrated circuit.
However, LaChapelle teaches a seed laser diode and an SOA that may be integrated into a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), which may be composed on an InP substrate (Fig. 31, seed laser diode 450, SOA 460, Paragraph [0240]-[0241]). The InP PIC substrate may be thermally coupled to a heat sink that dissipates heat produced by the seed laser diode or the SOA (Paragraph [0138]). LaChapelle also teaches that this heat dissipating substrate may act as an anode or cathode for the SOA or seed laser where the anode and cathode are placed on the upper side and lower side of the seed laser diode and SOA (Figs. 32 and 35, anode 711 and cathode 723, anode 811 and cathode 823, Paragraph [0138], [0260]).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Doylend and Ensher’s PIC and amplifier structure to include heat dissipation substrates on either side of the structure, as taught by LaChapelle. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve performance by dissipating heat produced by the amplifier, as suggested by LaChapelle (Paragraph [0138]).
Regarding claim 20, Doylend discloses
a laser configured to output a beam (Fig. 3A, laser 322, Paragraph [0057]);
a modulator configured to receive the beam from the laser and modulate the beam to generate a modulated beam (Fig. 3A, modulator 324, Paragraph [0057]);
a photonic integrated circuit integrating an optical amplifier (Fig. 3A, photonic IC 320, SOA 328, Paragraph [0058]) […]; and
a transceiver chip coupled to the photonic integrated circuit, the transceiver chip configured to emit the amplified beam and receive a reflected beam from a target (Fig. 3A, Phased array 332 and emitter array 334, Paragraph [0059]-[0060]);
[…].
Doylend does not teach: An autonomous vehicle control system with a steering system and a braking system;
a photonic integrated circuit integrating an optical amplifier and a passive component, the photonic integrated circuit coupled to receive the modulated beam from the modulator at the optical amplifier through a bend in the passive component and generate an amplified beam, wherein an input of the modulated beam and an output of the amplified beam are on a same side of the photonic integrated circuit; and
a vehicle controller comprising one or more processors configured to:
determine at least one of a range to the target or a velocity of the target using the reflected beam; and
control operation of an autonomous vehicle responsive to the at least one of the range or the velocity.
However, Ensher teaches a one-sided amplifier on a single chip. The amplifier receives input light and sends the output light through curved waveguides (Fig. 3, optical amplifier 16, Col. 7 lines 33- 44).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have replaced Doylend’s SOA with Ensher’s optical amplifier. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide an advantage in easier optical alignment between the amplifier and the inputs/outputs to the rest of the Lidar system”, as suggested by Ensher (Col. 7 lines 35-38).
In addition, LaChapelle teaches a LIDAR system with a laser and semiconductor optical amplifier on a PIC (Fig. 31) that may be integrated into a vehicle as part of an autonomous vehicle driving system (Paragraph [0074]). The autonomous vehicle driving system may include a computing system that receives information from a lidar system about the surrounding environment, including range of objects in a point cloud, and provide control signals to the steering system and braking system (Paragraph [0074]).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have added Doylend and Ensher’s LIDAR system to LaChappelle’s autonomous vehicle system. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to “provide information about the surrounding environment to a driving system of an autonomous vehicle”, as suggested by LaChappelle (Paragraph [0074]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Michaels et al., US 20220352695 A1 discloses a PIC assembly comprising an SOA and a U-turn chip.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5405. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 5:30 pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuqing Xiao can be reached at (571) 270-3603. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RACHEL NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645
Prosecution Insights