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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 10/2/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 10/2/2023 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, 4 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Song (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0268942).
With respect to claim 1, Song discloses: A ToF system configured to apply light to an object and find distance information by receiving reflected light from the object [ taught by figure 2; paragraph [ 0036 ] states, “…The LiDAR device 101 can be a solid state LiDAR device 101, which can measure distances to objects in an environment by illuminating the objects with laser pulses (laser beams). Differences in return times of the reflected laser pulses and wavelengths can be used to create a point cloud of the environment…” ], the ToF system comprising: a light source portion configured to apply the light to the object [ taught by laser pulse emitting unit (104) ]; a light receiver configured to receive the reflected light from the object [ taught by laser pulse receiving unit (109) ]; an information processing unit configured to acquire signal amount information from a received light output of the light receiver and calculate light amount information for making the signal amount information arise at a predetermined value or within a predetermined range of a lower limit threshold to an upper limit threshold [ taught by the saturation detector (219) wherein paragraph [ 0047 ] discloses a photon count of 30 determines saturation; therefore a count of 30 or less sets upper and lower thresholds ]; and a light amount control part configured to control a light amount of the light source portion using the light amount information [ taught by power controller (215) in view of paragraph [ 0049 ].
Claims 6-8 are anticipated by the subject matter of Song, as applied to claim 1.
Paragraph [ 0071 ] of Song teaches illumination powers of 5W or 100W; thus, teaching claim 4.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 2 differs from Song by further reciting “…wherein the information processing unit is configured to compare an average of all or a part of the signal amount information with the lower limit threshold or the upper limit threshold to generate the light amount information…”.
Paragraph [ 0178 ] of Kaizu et al teaches it was known before the effective filing date of the present application to have compare average values to a threshold in order to calculate saturation of pixels.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in modifying the device of Song in accordance with Kaizu et al because the device require known techniques for determining pixel saturation.
Figure 3A of Song teaches determining saturation for different regions; thus, rendering claim 3 met by the combination of Song and Kaizu et al, as applied to claim 2.
Paragraph [ 0071 ] of Song teaches illumination powers of 5W or 100W; thus, rendering claim 4 met by the combination of Song and Kaizu et al, as applied to claim 2.
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
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