DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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, 3 and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Pub. 2020/0182974 A1 to Kimura in view of US Patent Pub. 2020/0018827 A1 to Yamamoto.
As to claim 1, Kimura discloses a light projection device (See Fig. 6) comprising:
a light source to emit light (606); and
an optical system to project pattern light to an object, the pattern light obtained from the light emitted from the light source (See Fig. 6, 600), the optical system including:
a first lens group (608) on which the light emitted from the light source incident, the first lens group having a positive power (¶ 0044);
an optical element (610) to form the pattern light from the light passing through the first lens group and incident on the optical element (¶ 0045); and
a second lens group (612) on which the pattern light emitted from the optical element incident, the second lens group having a positive power (¶ 0046).
Kimura fails to disclose wherein the second lens group includes:
a third lens group having a positive power; and
a fourth lens group having a negative power, and
the third lens group and the fourth lens group are arranged in order of the third lens group and the fourth lens group from the optical element.
Yamamoto discloses wherein the second lens group (See Fig. 14) includes:
a third lens group (613a) having a positive power; and
a fourth lens group (613b) having a negative power, and
the third lens group and the fourth lens group are arranged in order of the third lens group and the fourth lens group from the optical element (See Fig. 14).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimura with the teachings of Yamamoto wherein the second lens group includes: a third lens group having a positive power; and a fourth lens group having a negative power, and the third lens group and the fourth lens group are arranged in order of the third lens group and the fourth lens group from the optical element, as suggested by Yamamoto thereby similarly using known configurations of lens groups for projecting light in distance measuring systems.
As to claim 3, Kimura discloses wherein the optical element includes a diffraction optical element to form the pattern light from the light passing through the first lens group and incident on the optical element (See Fig. 6; 610 forms patterns from light received from 608).
As to claim 8, Kimura discloses wherein the optical element includes a mirror to guide the light to the object as the pattern light, the light passing through the first lens group and incident on the mirror (¶ 0045).
As to claim 9, Kimura in view of Yamamoto discloses a light projection-and-reception apparatus comprising:
the light projection device according to claim 1 to project the pattern light to the object (See the rejection of claim 1);
a light receiver (Kimura, See Fig. 7, 704) to receive a reflection light reflected from the object to which the pattern light is projected (Kimura, ¶ 0050); and
circuitry (706) configured to control the light source and the light receiver (¶ 0050).
As to claim 10, Kimura in view of Yamamoto discloses a distance measurement system comprising:
the light projection-and-reception apparatus according to claim 9 (See the rejection of claim 9); and circuitry configured to calculate a distance to the object based on an output of the light received by the light receiver (¶ 0050-0051).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Pub. 2020/0182974 A1 to Kimura in view of US Patent Pub. 2020/0018827 A1 to Yamamoto, and further in view of US Patent Pub. 2023/0185057 A1 to Hoenle et al (“Hoenle”).
As to claim 5, Kimura in view of Yamamoto discloses wherein the first lens group includes at least one positive lens (Kimura, See Fig. 6, 608; ¶ 0044), but fails to disclose the third lens group includes at least two positive lenses, the fourth lens group includes at least two negative meniscus lenses having optical surfaces, and at least one optical surface of the optical surfaces of the two negative meniscus lenses is an aspherical surface.
Hoenle discloses the third lens group includes at least two positive lenses (See Fig. 1, 11, 16; ¶ 0118-0120), the fourth lens group includes at least two negative meniscus lenses having optical surfaces (See Fig. 1, 5, 8), and at least one optical surface of the optical surfaces of the two negative meniscus lenses is an aspherical surface (See Fig. 1; ¶ 0025, 0117; Claim 1).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimura in view of Yamamoto with the teachings of Hoenle of the third lens group includes at least two positive lenses, the fourth lens group includes at least two negative meniscus lenses having optical surfaces, and at least one optical surface of the optical surfaces of the two negative meniscus lenses is an aspherical surface, as suggested by Hoenle thereby similarly using known configurations of a system of lenses in distance measuring systems.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Pub. 2020/0182974 A1 to Kimura in view of US Patent Pub. 2020/0018827 A1 to Yamamoto, and further in view of US Patent Pub. 2023/0185057 A1 to Hoenle et al (“Hoenle”), and further in view of US Patent Pub. 2022/0334454 A1 to Veit et al (“Veit”).
As to claim 6, Kimura in view of Yamamoto discloses wherein a final optical surface of the optical system has an angle of view of 90 degrees or more and 220 degrees or less at a full angle.
Hoenle discloses wherein a final optical surface of the optical system has an angle of view of 90 degrees at a full angle (¶ 0018).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimura in view of Yamamoto with the teachings of Hoenle wherein a final optical surface of the optical system has an angle of view of 90 degrees or more and 220 degrees or less at a full angle, as suggested by Hoenle thereby similarly using known configurations for configuring lens systems in distance measuring systems.
Kimura in view of Yamamoto and Hoenle fails to disclose the optical system has an angle of view of 220 degrees or less at a full angle.
Veit discloses the optical system has an angle of view of 220 degrees or less at a full angle (¶ 0127, “the optical system of which is characterized by a (full-angle) FOV of about 180°”).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kimura in view of Yamamoto with the teachings of Hoenle wherein a final optical surface of the optical system has an angle of view of 220 degrees or less at a full angle, as suggested by Hoenle thereby similarly using known configurations for configuring lens systems in distance measuring systems.
Conclusion
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/NICHOLAS J LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624
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