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 .
This is the first office action on the merits and is responsive to the papers filed 01/02/2025. Claims 1-14 are currently pending and examined below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted by Applicant is in compliance with the provision of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
1. Paragraph [0041] states that “the first light L1 and the second light L2” are emitted from the first light-emitting elements 11A. However, paragraph [0028] explains that the first light-emitting elements 11A emit first light L1 and the second light-emitting elements 11B emit second light L2. Accordingly, paragraph [0041] should be corrected to recite that the first light L1 and the second light L2 are emitted from the first light-emitting elements 11A and the second light-emitting elements 11B, respectively.
2. Paragraph [0089], [0095], “saturable absorber 18” should be “saturable absorber 63.”
3. Paragraph [0096] refers to the emitted light being output toward the right side of Fig. 13. However, paragraph [0095] describes operation of the light-emitting element shown in Fig. 19, and Fig. 19 depicts the corresponding resonator/light-emitting structure discussed in paragraphs [0095]-[0096]. Accordingly, the reference to “Fig. 13” in paragraph [0096] should apparently be corrected to “Fig. 19.”
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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 2 recites that “the projection range of the first light and the projection range of the second light are changed” by causing the optical member “not to act on the first light but to refract or diffract only the second light.” It is unclear how the projection range of the first light is changed by the optical member when the claim simultaneously requires that the optical member does not act on the first light. The specification further states that when the diffraction element does not act on the first light L1, the FOV of the first light does not extend, whereas the FOV of the second light L2 is extended when the diffraction element acts thereon. See, e.g., paragraphs [0041]- [0042]. Accordingly, it is unclear whether claim 2 requires the projection range of both the first light and the second light to change or merely requires the projection range of the second light to differ from that of the first light.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim 9 depends on claim 1 and recites that “the lighting device includes the optical member.” However, claim 1 already requires “an optical member disposed on the optical path of the first light and the second light.” Thus, claim 9 does not specify a further limitation of claim 1 as required by 35 U.S.C. 112(d).
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 1-4, 7-10, 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na et al. (US 20190137856 A1, “Na”) in view of Jang et al. (US 20200025893 A1, “Jang”).
Regarding claim 1, Na teaches a lighting device (Figs. 1-2, [0071]; claim 1: meta projector 100) comprising a light-emitting unit (Figs. 1-2, [0072]; claim 1: light source array 150) including a first light-emitting element that emits first light and a second light-emitting element that emits second light ([0074]. Fig. 1 shows meta projector 100 and Fig. 2 shows first and second light-emitting arrays 120/130 and elements 122/132.),
(wherein a projection range of the first light and a projection range of the second light are changed by causing) the light-emitting unit and an optical member disposed on the optical path of the first light and the second light ([0071]:meta-structure layer MS is disposed on an optical path of light emitted from light source array 150 and receives that light. [0071] and claim 1 further explain that the meta-structure layer is at least partially aligned with the optical path.) to act differently on the first light and the second light ([0074]: first array 120 is activated for the first light while second array 130 is off, and vice versa for the second light and [0077] states: “The meta-structure layer MS may be configured to differently modulate different types of light ...” Na [0090]-[0091] further explain that asymmetric nanostructures produce different optical effects based on polarization. For the first/Y polarization, the structures can provide a phase-grating effect and diffraction at periodic angles; for the second/X polarization, the structures can provide an aspherical-lens-like phase distribution for uniform illumination. See also, claim 1 (“differently modulate”), and claim 8 (“different transmission phase distributions according to a polarization”).).
Na fails to explicitly teach wherein a projection range of the first light and a projection range of the second light are changed.
Na teaches that the meta-structure layer MS acts differently on the first light L1 and second light L2. In particular, first light L1 passing through the meta-structure layer forms rays and beam spots extending in space over a certain angle, whereas second light L2 is modified by the meta-structure layer by varying its beam width and spatial distribution. See Na [0128]- [0133], Figs. 10-11. Na therefore teaches altering the spatial/angular distribution of the respective projected lights. However, Na fails to explicitly teach that the respective projection ranges are changed.
Jang discloses a laser-emitting device having a plurality of laser-emitting units and a common beam-steering unit 200, wherein respective beam-steering cells 211, 212, 213 control the phases of beams emitted from respective laser-emitting units “to change irradiation directions of the laser beams.” See Jang [0173]-[0183], Fig. 5. Jang further teaches that different beam-steering cells may have different steering angles, including a first steering angle larger than a second steering angle, and states that steering angles of the plurality of beam-steering cells may differ from one another. See Jang [0186]- [0202]. Jang also relates the beam steering to an angular field of view, e.g., horizontal and vertical FOV ranges formed by the scanning points. See Jang [0435]-[0438]. Accordingly, Jang teaches changing the angular projection/irradiation range of emitted light by causing the optical beam-steering member to act differently on different emitted beams.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Na's meta-structure in accordance with Jang's beam-steering arrangement to enable Na's respective selectable illumination outputs to be directed toward different angular portions of a scene. Such a modification would provide greater control over the spatial region illuminated by each output and permit the different illumination modes to cover selected portions of the field of view, thereby increasing the spatial versatility of Na's meta-projector.
Regarding claim 2, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the projection range of the first light and the projection range of the second light are changed by causing the optical member not to act on the first light but to refract or diffract only the second light.
Jang teaches a common beam-steering unit 200 comprising a plurality of beam-steering cells corresponding to respective laser-emitting units. See Jang [0173]- [0182], Fig. 5. Jang teaches that a beam-steering cell, e.g., second beam-steering cell 212, may contain no nanopillars such that a laser beam passing therethrough maintains the emission direction of the laser-emitting unit, thereby providing a region of the optical member that does not refract the first light. See Jang [0241]. In contrast, Jang teaches that another beam-steering cell containing a nanopattern, e.g., first beam-steering cell 211, changes the irradiation direction and steering angle of a laser beam, and Jang teaches that beam-steering unit 200 refracts an emitted laser beam according to the nanopattern, with the angle after refraction determined by the nanopattern. See Jang [0092]-[0096], [0189]-[0194].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify Na's optical member in accordance with Jang so that one emitted light maintains its original propagation direction while another emitted light is angularly redirected, thereby allowing the different illumination outputs to address different portions of the scene without requiring separate external steering optics.
Regarding claim 3, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the first light and the second light have different polarization characteristics (Na (Fig. 2; [0072]) The first light-emitting elements 122 and the second light-emitting elements 132 may emit light having different polarization states……. For example, the first light-emitting elements 122 may emit light having a first polarization state, and the second light-emitting elements 132 may emit light having a second polarization state that is different from the first polarization state.).
Regarding claim 4, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 3, wherein the first light and the second light have polarization characteristics orthogonal to each other (Na (Fig. 2; [0072]) teaches that the first light is linearly polarized in the Y-axis direction and the second light is linearly polarized in the X-axis direction.).
Regarding claim 7, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the optical member is a polarization metamaterial (Na [0097], Fig. 7, teaches a meta-structure formed from asymmetric nanostructures arranged to have different effects on light having different polarization states. Na [0091] further teaches that the nanostructures may provide a phase-grating effect whereby light having a first polarization direction is diffracted at periodic angles, while light having a second polarization direction is provided with a different phase distribution.).
Regarding claim 8, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the lighting device includes a plurality of the first light-emitting elements and a plurality of the second light- emitting elements (Na teaches that light source array 150 includes a plurality of first light-emitting elements 122 and a plurality of second light-emitting elements 132 arranged in respective first and second light-emitting arrays 120 and 130. See [0072]- [0073], Fig. 2.).
Regarding claim 9, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the lighting device includes the optical member (Na, [0071]: meta-structure layer MS is disposed on an optical path of light emitted from light source array 150 and receives that light. [0071] and claim 1 further explain that the meta-structure layer is at least partially aligned with the optical path. See also, Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 10, Na, in view of Jang, teaches the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element are surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (Na [0100], Fig.8 teaches that Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) may be used as the first and second light-emitting elements 122 and 132. See also, [0101].).
Regarding claim 13, Na teaches a ranging device (Claim 14, Fig. 15) comprising:
the lighting device according to claim 1 (See the rejection of claim 1);
a control unit that controls the lighting device (Na further teaches an object recognizing/ranging apparatus 300 comprising a control unit (processor 320) configured to control the lighting device (meta projector 310) to emit structured light SL or uniform light UL. See [0143], Fig. 15.);
a light receiving unit that receives reflected light from an object (Na also teaches a light receiving unit (sensor 330) configured to receive light reflected from object OBJ. See [0143], Fig. 15.); and
a ranging unit that calculates a measured distance from image data obtained by the light receiving unit (Na teaches that structured light reflected from a three-dimensional object is imaged using an imaging device such as a camera to extract depth information by tracing variation in the reflected structured light pattern according to coordinates. See Na [0078]. Na further teaches processor 320 performing calculations based on light received by sensor 330 and analyzing variations in the structured-light pattern to obtain three-dimensional information regarding the object. See [0143]- [0147], Fig. 15.).
Regarding claim 14, Na teaches an onboard device (Na [0162] teaches the ranging arrangement integrated into a portable/mobile electronic apparatus) comprising the ranging device according to claim 13 (See the rejection of claim 13).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na in view of Jang and Hudman et al. (US 20210247556 A1, “Hudman”).
Regarding claim 5, Na, in view of Jang, fails to explicitly teach the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the optical member is a polarization diffraction element.
However, Hudman, [0050], teaches that second spatially varying polarizer 318 has diffraction pattern 324 and diffracts second-polarization light over FOV 320.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the optical member of Na in accordance with Hudman’s polarization selective diffractive structure to independently control the angular distribution of light according to polarization and thereby increase the usable field of view while maintaining illumination resolution.
Regarding claim 6, Na, in view of Jang, fails to explicitly teach the lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the optical member is a liquid crystal element.
However, Hudman, [0028], [0048], teaches that first and second spatially varying polarizers may be formed from liquid crystal material, including a multi-twist retarder (MTR). See also, claims 2 and 3.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the optical member of Na using Hudman’s liquid-crystal implementation to provide electronically adjustable diffraction and field-of-view control so that the projection range could be dynamically adjusted rather than remain fixed.
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na in view of Jang and Kamata et al. (WO 2021106757 A1, “Kamata”)
Regarding claim 11, Na, in view of Jang, fails to explicitly teach lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element each have a configuration including an excitation light source layer, a laser medium, and a saturable absorber.
Na teaches that the first and second light-emitting elements 122 and 132 may each be implemented as a VCSEL. See Na [0100], Fig. 8. However, Na does not explicitly teach each first and second light-emitting element having an excitation light source layer, a laser medium, and a saturable absorber.
Kamata teaches that laser element 10 comprising semiconductor laser 1, solid-state laser medium 2, and Q-switch 3. Kamata identifies semiconductor laser 1 as an excitation light source, solid-state laser medium 2 as the laser medium excited thereby, and Q-switch 3 as a saturable absorber. See Kamata [0049]- [0052], Fig. 3 and claim 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the first and second light-emitting elements of Na in accordance with Kamata to obtain high peak pulsed laser emission while maintaining a compact light source configuration suitable for Na’s meta projector. Kamata [0048] explains that its laser-element arrangement permits high peak intensity laser pulses without requiring a large laser apparatus and facilitates reduction in the size of the laser source. An ordinary skill in the art seeking greater peak optical output from Na’s compact projector therefore would have had a reason to employ Kamata’s laser element architecture for Na’s respective emitters.
Regarding claim 12, Na, in view of Jang and Kamata, teaches the lighting device according to claim 11, wherein the first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element each have a configuration in which the excitation light source layer, the laser medium, and the saturable absorber are stacked (Kamata, Fig. 3, para 49, teaches that the semiconductor laser 1, the solid-state laser medium 2, and the Q-switch 3 are arranged so as to be stacked in the z-axis direction. Kamata para 63 further teaches that semiconductor laser 1 and solid-state laser medium 2 may be bonded together and that solid-state laser medium 2 and Q-switch 3 may likewise be bonded together.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the laser elements used in Na according to Kamata’s stacked arrangement to reduce the physical footprint of the laser assembly and maintain the optical components in a fixed aligned relationship. Kamata’s direct bonding of the excitation source to the laser medium and of the laser medium to the Q-switch permits the optically interacting components to be integrated into a compact assembly, which would further Na’s objective of providing a small projector while simplifying alignment of the laser stages.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
You et al. (US 20190243155 A1), teaches Meta illuminator
Shpunt et al. (US 20080106746 A1), teaches Depth-varying Light Fields for Three-Dimensional Sensing
David A. Fattal (US 10768357 B2), teaches Polarization-mixing Light Guide And Multibeam Grating-based Backlighting Using Same
Bloemen et al. (US 10855055 B2), teaches VCSEL array with common wafer level integrated optical device
Sharma et al. (US 20200259307 A1), teaches Optical elements for beam-shaping and illumination
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