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 .
Drawings
The drawings filed 9/26/2024 are approved by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
Claims 1 and 4-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Akselrod et al (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0251496).
With respect to claim 1, Akselrod et al disclose: A beam scanning system [ taught by the tunable metasurface (897) in the context of figure 8 ], comprising: a light transmitter configured to transmit a light beam [ taught by laser assembly (896) ]; a beam scanner configured to direct the light beam over a range of angles based on a scanning pattern [ taught by metasurface (897); paragraph [0069] states, “…a tunable optical metasurface 897 to selectively steer the optical radiation at various steering angles toward distant surfaces…” ]; a detector comprising one or more acquisition elements configured to acquire measurements of a reflected light beam, corresponding to the light beam [ taught by detector array (892) ], based on a temporal acquisition scheme, during which the one or more acquisition elements are configured to acquire the measurements at regular time intervals [ taught by paragraph [0054] ], or based on an angular acquisition scheme, during which the one or more acquisition elements are configured to acquire the measurements at regular angular intervals of the beam scanner [ taught by paragraph [0033] ], wherein the detector comprises a signal processor configured to, based on the measurements, calculate distances to a target from which the reflected light beam is reflected [ paragraph [0054] states, “…For example, in a software-defined lidar device, the first scan line 488 at the first steering angle, φ1, illuminates objects in the far field of the region 495 that reflect or rebound at least some of the transmitted optical radiation to be received by a receiver subsystem (not shown). A lidar controller (not pictured) may perform time-of-flight calculations (e.g., indirect and/or direct time-of-flight calculations) based on the time the first scan line 488 is transmitted and when reflected/rebounded optical radiation is received by a sensor of the receiver system. The lidar controller uses the time-of-flight calculations to calculate or otherwise determine lidar detection data (e.g., in the form of point cloud data), such as distance and ranging information…” ]; and a control system comprising a main processor and an acquisition engine coupled to the main processor [ taught by processor (830) and computer-readable storage medium (870) ], wherein the main processor is configured to read a processor instruction set comprising a plurality of program instructions and a plurality of first acquisition instructions, wherein the main processor is configured to execute the plurality of program instructions during a scanning operation [ paragraph [0070] states, “…The processor 830 may execute the instructions stored within the computer-readable storage medium 870 to implement the various modules or subsystems, including the virtualization subsystem 880, a scan table database 882, an ROI definitions database 884, a raw to depth pipelining subsystem 886, a scan entry selection subsystem 888, and an ROI scan parameters database 889…” ; paragraph [0032] sets forth a first ROI ];, wherein the main processor is configured to generate a plurality of second acquisition instructions based on the plurality of first acquisition instructions and provide the plurality of second acquisition instructions to the acquisition engine [ figure 15 shows a second ROI (1520) with scan parameters resulting from the detection of an object (1550) within another ROI (1530) ], and wherein the acquisition engine is configured to execute the second plurality of acquisition instructions during the scanning operation [ figure 15 shows both ROI regions being scanned ].
Claim 22 is anticipated by the subject matter of Akselrod et al, as applied to claim 1.
With regard to claim 4, figure 5 shows the data for scanning a particular ROI is stored in the scan table database (882), ROI definitions database (884) and ROI scan parameters database (889); thus, meeting a configuration prior to being provided to the acquisition engine.
Claims 5-10, 12-15 and 23 are taught by paragraphs [0032]-[0034].
Figure 15 shows a second ROI (1520) with scan parameters resulting from the detection of an object (1550) within another ROI (1530); thus, teaching claims 16 and 17.
With respect to claim 18, Akselrod et al disclose: A beam scanning system [ taught by the tunable metasurface (897) in the context of figure 8 ], comprising: a light transmitter configured to transmit a light beam [ taught by laser assembly (896); a beam scanner configured to direct the light beam over a range of angles based on a scanning pattern [ taught by metasurface (897); paragraph [0069] states, “…a tunable optical metasurface 897 to selectively steer the optical radiation at various steering angles toward distant surfaces…” ]; a detector comprising one or more acquisition elements configured to acquire measurements of a reflected light beam, corresponding to the light beam [ taught by detector array (892) ], based on a temporal acquisition scheme, during which the one or more acquisition elements are configured to acquire the measurements at regular time intervals [ taught by paragraph [0054] ], or based on an angular acquisition scheme, during which the one or more acquisition elements are configured to acquire the measurements at regular angular intervals of the beam scanner [ taught by paragraph [0033] ], wherein the detector comprises a signal processor configured to, based on the measurements, calculate distances to a target from which the reflected light beam is reflected [ paragraph [0054] states, “…For example, in a software-defined lidar device, the first scan line 488 at the first steering angle, φ1, illuminates objects in the far field of the region 495 that reflect or rebound at least some of the transmitted optical radiation to be received by a receiver subsystem (not shown). A lidar controller (not pictured) may perform time-of-flight calculations (e.g., indirect and/or direct time-of-flight calculations) based on the time the first scan line 488 is transmitted and when reflected/rebounded optical radiation is received by a sensor of the receiver system. The lidar controller uses the time-of-flight calculations to calculate or otherwise determine lidar detection data (e.g., in the form of point cloud data), such as distance and ranging information…” ]; and a control system comprising a main processor and an acquisition engine coupled to the main processor, wherein the main processor is configured to read a processor instruction set comprising a plurality of program instructions and a plurality of acquisition instructions [ taught by processor (830) and computer-readable storage medium (870) ], wherein the main processor is configured to execute the plurality of program instructions during a scanning operation [ paragraph [0070] states, “…The processor 830 may execute the instructions stored within the computer-readable storage medium 870 to implement the various modules or subsystems, including the virtualization subsystem 880, a scan table database 882, an ROI definitions database 884, a raw to depth pipelining subsystem 886, a scan entry selection subsystem 888, and an ROI scan parameters database 889…” ], wherein the main processor is configured to preconfigure the acquisition engine with the plurality of acquisition instructions [ paragraph [0064] teaches creating a scan table meeting ROIs based on user defined fields-of-view (FOV); thus meeting preconfigured ], and wherein the acquisition engine is configured to execute the plurality of acquisition instructions during the scanning operation [ shown by scanning the FOVs in figure 15 ].
Claims 19-21 are taught by paragraphs [0032]-[0034].
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 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akselrod et al (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0251496).
Claims 2 and 3 would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in enabling because it was well-known in computer systems that sub-elements such as the disclosed processor (830), controller (899) and storage medium (870) could operate independently or asynchronously in order to more efficiently process data and memory.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to MARK HELLNER at telephone number (571)272-6981.
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
/MARK HELLNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
