DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on October 1, 2024. Claims 1-11 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on October 1, 2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 for JP2019-138193 dated July 26, 2019 and JP2019-206498 dated November 14, 2019.
Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome potential future rejections made using references falling between the filing date and the foreign priority date, because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216. No action by Applicant is requested at this time.
Additionally, Applicant’s requests for priority to PCT/JP2020/022058 dated June 4, 2020 and U.S. Pub. No. 17/529,239 dated November 17, 2021 are acknowledged.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the language of the claim is claim like rather than narrative in form. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 4 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 has a space after a comma which should be removed, and claim 4 includes a space before the period which should be removed. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0146504 (hereinafter, “Lee”; previously of record in the parent application and found in the IDS dated October 1, 2024).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses A distance measurement apparatus comprising:
a light emitter that emits a plurality of light beams toward a scene in different directions and at different timings (see at least [0006]; the light emitter rotates in order to capture data in different directions within a scene at different timings);
a light receiver that includes an array of a plurality of light-receiving elements, and detects reflected light from the scene produced by the emission of each light beam with the plurality of light-receiving elements (see at least [0009]-[0011]; a plurality of light receivers may receive reflected light of the light beams and may be disposed at different gradients relative to one another or stacked perpendicular to one another on a support plate (i.e., within an array)); and
a signal processing circuit that generates and outputs output data including measurement data indicating positions or distances of a plurality of points in the scene on a basis of a signal outputted by the light receiver (see at least [0128] and [0129]-[0138] generally; a controller (i.e., signal processing circuit) may output measurement data indicating positions and distances of points within the scene based on the data output by the light receivers),
wherein the output data includes a plurality of data sets, and individual time data is attached to each of the plurality of data sets (see at least [0128]-[0138] and [0243]-[0246]; each light emission may be considered a new dataset, and the time data attached to the datasets are used for determining distance/position information), and
the plurality of data sets includes a first data set including a plurality of data points representing the measurement data of a first part of the plurality of points in the scene and a second data set including a plurality of data points representing the measurement data of a second part of the plurality of points in the scene (see at least [0128]-[0138] and [0243]-[0246]; each light emission may be considered a new dataset, and the time data attached to the datasets are used for determining distance/position information. Each of the plurality of receivers may receive measurement data of different respective parts of the scene based. Any one of the receivers may be considered to correspond to the first part of the scene and any second one of the receivers may be considered to correspond to the second part of the scene).
Regarding claim 2, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the time data attached to each of the plurality of data sets indicates a time at which the light beam for a corresponding one of the plurality of data sets from among the plurality of light beams was emitted (see at least [0024]-[0028] and [0128]-[00138]; the light radiation time point data corresponds to a data set from among the plurality).
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the time data attached to each of the plurality of data sets indicates a time at which reflected light of the light beam for a corresponding one of the plurality of data sets from among the plurality of light beams was received by one of the plurality of light-receiving elements (see at least [0024]-[0028] and [0128]-[00138]; the light radiation time point data corresponds to a data set from among the plurality. Both the emitted time and received time are utilized for the time of flight analysis).
Regarding claim 4, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the light emitter varies a parameter of the emitted plurality of light beams including at least one of a shape or a diameter of the emitted plurality of light beams (see at least [0202]; the emitted light may be adjusted by adjusting the sizes of the reflective surfaces for a given data set), and a number or range of the plurality of points belonging to each of the plurality of data sets is different according to the parameter of a light beam for a corresponding one of the plurality of data sets (see at least [0140]-[0141]; the number of light emitters for a given emission may be considered a parameter with more emitters corresponding to more datapoints).
Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the plurality of data sets includes two or more data sets that share the time data (see at least [0140]-[0141]; different light emitters may be associated with different datasets and multiple light emitters may emit light simultaneously).
Regarding claim 6, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the signal processing circuit generates point cloud data including information about three-dimensional coordinates of the plurality of points as the output data (see at least [0128]-[0138] and [0243]-[0249]; each light emission may be considered a new dataset, and the time data attached to the datasets are used for determining distance/position information in 3D space including the use of 3D coordinates).
Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the signal processing circuit generates depth map data expressing a distance distribution of the plurality of points as the output data (see at least Fig. 23 and [0259]-[0264]; the detection of the obstacle is based on the previously collected 3D data which may be considered equivalent to a depth map as it is a collection of 3D distance data from a known reference point).
Regarding claim 8, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the time data expresses time in units of microseconds or in units of nanoseconds (see at least [0136]-[0137]; while the time unit is not explicitly stated, it is well-known in the art that any calculations using the speed of light would utilize nanoseconds for ease of use in equations and conversions. Additionally, any other unit used would be considered an anticipated equivalent as it portrays the same information based on a mathematical conversion).
Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses An information processing apparatus comprising (see at least [0009]; the cleaning robot):
a processor executing a process to (see at least [0009]; the controller (i.e., processor)):
acquire light reception data generated at different timings by a light receiver including an array of a plurality of light-receiving elements (see at least [0009]-[0011]; a plurality of light receivers may receive reflected light of the light beams and may be disposed at different gradients relative to one another or stacked perpendicular to one another on a support plate (i.e., within an array));
generate measurement data indicating positions or distances of a plurality of points in a scene on a basis of the light reception data (see at least [0128] and [0129]-[0138] generally; a controller (i.e., signal processing circuit) may output measurement data indicating positions and distances of points within the scene based on the data output by the light receivers); and
generate and output, on a basis of the measurement data, output data including a plurality of data sets, with individual time data attached to each of the plurality of data sets (see at least [0128]-[0138] and [0243]-[0246]; each light emission may be considered a new dataset, and the time data attached to the datasets are used for determining distance/position information),
wherein the plurality of data sets includes a first data set including a plurality of data points representing the measurement data of a first part of the plurality of points in the scene and a second data set including a plurality of data points representing the measurement data of a second part of the plurality of points in the scene (see at least [0128]-[0138] and [0243]-[0246]; each light emission may be considered a new dataset, and the time data attached to the datasets are used for determining distance/position information. Each of the plurality of receivers may receive measurement data of different respective parts of the scene based. Any one of the receivers may be considered to correspond to the first part of the scene and any second one of the receivers may be considered to correspond to the second part of the scene).
Regarding claim 10, Lee discloses all of the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Lee discloses wherein the output data includes a plurality of frames, and the plurality of data sets are included in single frame of the output data (see at least [0140]-[0141]; different light emitters may be associated with different datasets and multiple light emitters may emit light simultaneously. All datasets associated with the same starting time may be considered a single frame as it is a snapshot of the obstacle position/distance at that given time).
Claim 11 is rejected under essentially the same reasoning as claim 10.
Additional Relevant Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and may be found on the accompanying PTO-892 Notice of References Cited:
U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0363667 which pertains to a light emitter used for determining distance and location of objects in the surroundings of the emitter; and
U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0011998 which pertains to a vehicle distance measurement light emitter which is used to scan the scene surrounding the vehicle.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIFFANY P YOUNG whose telephone number is (313)446-6575. The examiner can normally be reached M-R 6:30 AM- 4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erin Bishop can be reached at (571) 270-3713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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TIFFANY YOUNG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3666
/TIFFANY P YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665
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