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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application 18/806,665 filed on 08/15/2024.
Claims 1 - 11 have been examined and are pending in this application.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
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 – 3 and 5-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being by Yang et al. (CN 115166760 A).
Regarding claim 1, Yang discloses: “a laser detection method, applied to a LiDAR [see page: 4; lines: 189 - 190; FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a lidar module], wherein the LiDAR comprises a first emitting unit [see page: 2; lines: 70 – 72; select one light-emitting moment from the plurality of preset light-emitting moments according to the timing random number], and the method comprising:
obtaining a random variable [see page:2; lines: 61 – 62; further comprising a random number generator configured to generate the sequential random];
determining a plurality of first emission times according to the random variable [see page: 10; lines: 451 - 452; For each laser emitting device 11 , it may have one or more preset emitting times]; and
controlling the first emitting unit to emit a laser signal at the plurality of first emission times [see page: 19; lines: 899- 900; At step S102: controlling at least one driver of the laser emitting device to drive the coupled lasers to emit laser pulse signals based on the timing random number].
Regarding claim 2, Yang discloses: “wherein the LiDAR further comprises a pseudo-random number generator [see page: 3; lines: 104- 106; wherein the random number generator is a pseudo-random number generator], the random variable comprises a seed value [see page: lines: ; Counting the seeds to generate time series random numbers;] and a step size, and the determining the plurality of first emission times according to the random variable comprises:
generating a first delay period set by the pseudo-random number generator according to the seed value and the step size, wherein the first delay period set comprises a plurality of delay periods [see page:13; lines: 602 – 606; FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of random emission delay in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. For the laser of the laser emission device 11 , each laser detection pulse emission has a preset emission time. In the present invention, the random number generator 15 generates a random light-emitting delay τ, and the control device 12 uses τ as the delay of the light-emitting time of the laser, thereby changing the actual light-emitting time of the laser]; and
determining the first emission times corresponding to the laser signal according to the plurality of delay periods [see page: 16 – 17; lines: 794 - 809; 11 shows the timing diagram of the random combination of multi-pulse coding at the light-emitting moment according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. Taking N=2, that is, double pulses as an example, for the laser 111-1, the random number generator 15 generates two timing random numbers: t11 and t12, wherein t11 is the random light-emitting time of the first pulse, and t12 is the random light-emitting time of the second pulse. Both t11 and t12 are random numbers, so that the timing interval t12-t11 of the double pulse is also random. Similarly, the two pulse emission times t21, t22 of the laser 111-2...the two pulse emission times tn1 and tn2 of the laser 111-n are random numbers, then the timing interval of the double pulses t12-t11≠t22-t21≠ t32-t31≠…≠tn2-tn1. When N>2, the laser pulse sequence includes multiple laser pulses, such as the first pulse, the second pulse, ..., the Nth pulse, and the emitting timings of the multiple laser pulses are based on timing random numbers, so that the leading edges of multiple pulses are The time interval is random. In the same way, a scheme in which the light emission interval is random can be used to directly set the timing intervals of multiple pulses, which can achieve the same random effect. The difference from using the random lighting moment scheme alone is that the data processing device 14 can identify the echo signal according to the time sequence code].
Regarding claim 3, Yang discloses: “wherein the plurality of first emission times comprise X first emission times, the X first emission times correspond one-to-one to X first receiving times, the X first emission times comprise an ith first emission time and an ith+1 first emission time, the ith first receiving time in the X first receiving times corresponds to the ith first emission time, 0≤i≤X, and i and X are both integers [see page: 16 – 17; lines: 794 - 809; 11 shows the timing diagram of the random combination of multi-pulse coding at the light-emitting moment according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. Taking N=2, that is, double pulses as an example, for the laser 111-1, the random number generator 15 generates two timing random numbers: t11 and t12, wherein t11 is the random light-emitting time of the first pulse, and t12 is the random light-emitting time of the second pulse. Both t11 and t12 are random numbers, so that the timing interval t12-t11 of the double pulse is also random. Similarly, the two pulse emission times t21, t22 of the laser 111-2...the two pulse emission times tn1 and tn2 of the laser 111-n are random numbers, then the timing interval of the double pulses t12-t11≠t22-t21≠ t32-t31≠…≠tn2-tn1. When N>2, the laser pulse sequence includes multiple laser pulses, such as the first pulse, the second pulse, ..., the Nth pulse, and the emitting timings of the multiple laser pulses are based on timing random numbers, so that the leading edges of multiple pulses are The time interval is random. In the same way, a scheme in which the light emission interval is random can be used to directly set the timing intervals of multiple pulses, which can achieve the same random effect. The difference from using the random lighting moment scheme alone is that the data processing device 14 can identify the echo signal according to the time sequence code]; and the determining the first emission time corresponding to the laser signal according to the plurality of delay periods comprises:
selecting a first delay period in the plurality of delay periods, as a delay period of the ith+1 first emission time relative to the ith first receiving time [see page:13; lines: 602 – 606; FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of random emission delay in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. For the laser of the laser emission device 11 , each laser detection pulse emission has a preset emission time. In the present invention, the random number generator 15 generates a random light-emitting delay τ, and the control device 12 uses τ as the delay of the light-emitting time of the laser, thereby changing the actual light-emitting time of the laser]; and
determining the ith+1 first emission time according to the ith first receiving time and the first delay period [see page: 13; lines: 602; FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of random emission delay in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. For the laser of the laser emission device 11 , each laser detection pulse emission has a preset emission time. In the present invention, the random number generator 15 generates a random light-emitting delay τ, and the control device 12 uses τ as the delay of the light-emitting time of the laser, thereby changing the actual light-emitting time of the laser. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , each time the laser performs a time-of-flight measurement, for example, two probe pulses are emitted. Taking the laser 111-1 as an example, the two probe pulses are p1 and p1', respectively, and the probe pulses p1 and p1' The preset light-emitting time instants are respectively t1 and t1', as shown by the detection pulses shown by the solid lines in the emission waveform diagram of the laser 111-1 in FIG. 5 . For the detection pulse p1, the control device 12 delays the light-emitting time t1 according to the random light-emitting time delay τ1 generated by the random number generator 15. The delay time τ1 shown in the figure is a negative value, so the light-emitting time t1 is actually advance; similarly, the control device 12 delays the lighting time t1' according to the random lighting delay τ1' generated by the random number generator 15. The delay τ1' shown in the figure is a positive value, so in fact The light-emitting time t1' is delayed. For the laser 111-1, the emission timings of the two detection pulses are advanced and delayed respectively. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the delay of multiple detection pulses in one time-of-flight measurement of the same laser may also be are the same, that is, have the same sign, and have the same absolute value].
Regarding claim 5, Yang discloses: “wherein the LiDAR further comprises a second emitting unit, and the method further comprises:
obtaining a second delay period [see Fig. 5];
determining a plurality of second emission times according to the plurality of first emission times and the second delay period, the plurality of first emission times correspond one-to-one to the plurality of second emission times, and the second delay period is a delay period of a corresponding one of the plurality of second emission times relative to a corresponding one of the plurality of first emission times; and controlling the second emitting unit to emit a laser signal at the plurality of second emission times [see page:16; lines:763-774; FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a lidar module according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention. The laser emitting device 11 includes a plurality of lasers 111 and drivers 112 that are the same in number as the lasers 111 and are coupled in one-to-one correspondence. Grouping, for example, according to a column of lasers 111 and corresponding drivers 112 as shown in FIG. 7 into a group (the dotted box in FIG. 7 is a group), as shown in FIG. 10 , the first group, ..., the first group In n groups, the correlation of the information points measured by the lasers 111 in each group is relatively high, so the lasers in each group can be independently controlled. The lidar 10 includes a plurality of random number generators 15 corresponding to the number of groups, and the random number generated by each random number generator 15 corresponds to a group of lasers 111 and drivers 112, which can realize random lighting time, random lighting delay, Any one of the four schemes of random lighting interval and random lighting sequence or a scheme combined with each other].
Regarding claim 6, Yang discloses: “wherein the obtaining a second delay period comprises: using a difference between a third delay period and a fourth delay period as the second delay period [see page: 10; lines: 476 - 484; In the present invention, the control device 12 randomly adjusts or selects the emission time of the laser emission device 11, and the data processing device can obtain the emission time, and calculate the flight time of the light in combination with the time when the detector receives the echo signal, so as to obtain an accurate target object distance information. The transmission time of the interference signal does not have the same randomness, so the time difference between the reception time of the interference signal and the random transmission time of the lidar changes randomly, so that the time difference of multiple interference signals and the distance information corresponding to the interference points no longer have Spatial correlations are easily identified]; and
the plurality of first emission times correspond one-to-one to a plurality of third emission times, the plurality of first emission times correspond one-to-one to the plurality of third emission times, the third emission time is a preset emission time for the first emitting unit and the second emitting unit, the third delay period is a delay period of a corresponding one of the plurality of first emission times relative to a corresponding one of the plurality of third emission times, and the fourth delay period is a delay period of a corresponding one of the plurality of second emission times relative to a corresponding one of the plurality of third emission times[see page:16; lines:763-774; FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a lidar module according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention. The laser emitting device 11 includes a plurality of lasers 111 and drivers 112 that are the same in number as the lasers 111 and are coupled in one-to-one correspondence. Grouping, for example, according to a column of lasers 111 and corresponding drivers 112 as shown in FIG. 7 into a group (the dotted box in FIG. 7 is a group), as shown in FIG. 10 , the first group, ..., the first group In n groups, the correlation of the information points measured by the lasers 111 in each group is relatively high, so the lasers in each group can be independently controlled. The lidar 10 includes a plurality of random number generators 15 corresponding to the number of groups, and the random number generated by each random number generator 15 corresponds to a group of lasers 111 and drivers 112, which can realize random lighting time, random lighting delay, Any one of the four schemes of random lighting interval and random lighting sequence or a scheme combined with each other].
Regarding claims 7, “configuring the third delay period according to the first register; and configuring the fourth delay period according to the second register” is only a matter of design choice because it only requires mere selection of a number of delay period to be configured according to specific register based on the specification.
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 3 but for fifth delay period in a second delay set and determining zth first emission time according random number and fifth delay period, it is obvious for a skilled person to modify according to specific number of delay period or selecting a specific number of emissions.
Regarding claim 9, Yang discloses: “wherein the first emitting unit comprises a voltage-controlled delay chain, and the method further comprises: periodically generating a plurality of third delay sets by the voltage-controlled delay chain, the plurality of third delay sets correspond one-to-one to the plurality of first emission times, and the second delay set is a set in the plurality of third delay sets corresponding to the zth first emission time [see page:9; lines: 440 - 454; The driver 112 may include, for example, switches and voltage sources or energy storage devices. The control device sends a trigger signal to the switch to turn on the switch, and the voltage source or the energy storage device discharges the laser, thereby driving the laser to emit laser pulses. The control device 12 is coupled to the driver 112 , and is configured to generate a trigger signal based on a random number in time sequence. The driver 112 receives the trigger signal from the control device 12 and drives the coupled laser 111 to emit a laser pulse signal L. The timing random number can be a random integer or a random floating point number, and can correspond to a number or time value in the time domain. The control device 12 generates a trigger signal according to the timing random number and controls the laser 111 to emit light randomly through the driver 112 to reduce interference. For each laser emitting device 11 , it may have one or more preset emitting times. In the present invention, the control device 12 randomly adjusts or selects the emitting time of the laser emitting device 11 according to the timing random number].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (CN 115166760 A) in view of NASHIMOTO et al (US 20220276337 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Yang disclose all the limitation of claim 2 and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to that claim.
Yang does not explicitly disclose: “wherein the LiDAR further comprises a true random number generator, and the true random number generator is cascaded with the pseudo-random number generator, and the obtaining a random variable comprises:
obtaining the random variable according to the true random number generator”
However, NASHIMOTO, from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: “wherein the LiDAR further comprises a true random number generator [see abstract: a true random number generation unit (101) to generate a true random number sequence formed of a true random number], and the true random number generator is cascaded with the pseudo-random number generator [abstract: a pseudo-random number generation unit (102) to generate a pseudo-random number sequence formed of a pseudo-random number], and the obtaining a random variable comprises:
obtaining the random variable according to the true random number generator [see para: 0104; That is, when the pseudo-random number generation unit 102 generates a sequence with high autocorrelation as the pseudo-random number sequence S103, the results obtained by the demodulation unit 121 integrating a signal as appropriate in a range of one cycle unit (which is referred to as one sweep unit in FMCW radars) of the pseudo-random number sequence S103 are such that cos{fb1t} components are mutually reinforced and cos{fb2t+ϕ1+ϕ2} components are mutually weakened. The sequence with high autocorrelation is, as a specific example, an M sequence or Gold sequence].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system/head mounted camera system disclosed by Yang to add the teachings of NASHIMOTO as above, in order to provide a means for improving sampling and avoiding channel overlap and unpredictability by using a true random number generator to seed a pseudo-random number generator [Nashimoto see abstract; para: 0104].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 112596042 B.
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/MASUM BILLAH/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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