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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/01/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s) discussed below.
Reference US 2022/0252725 A1 is a general background reference covering: Systems and methods for sensing objects are provided. An optical apparatus can include a transmitter configured to project on a surface of an object, a first optical pattern having a first set of characteristics and a second optical pattern having a second set of characteristics. The optical apparatus can include a receiver configured to receive first and second reflected optical patterns representing a reflection of the first optical pattern and the second optical pattern from the surface of the object, and generate first and second electrical signals representing the first and the second reflected optical patterns. The optical apparatus can include one or more processors configured to receive the first electrical signals and the second electrical signals, and determine one or more characteristics of the object, including range information of the object. (see abstract).
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eichenholz et al. (Eichenholz) (US 2017/0299721 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Eichenholz discloses a method for operating a LiDAR system (e.g., FIG. 1 illustrates an example light detection and ranging (lidar) system 100, paragraph 49), the method comprising:
dividing an entire valid measurement distance into a preset number of distance ranges (e.g., FIG. 2, reference line 220 represents a center of the field of regard of scan pattern 200. In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71);
calculating a change value for laser positions applicable to the entire valid measurement distance (e.g., in FIG. 2, if the scan pattern 200 has a 60°×15° field of regard, then scan pattern 200 covers a ±30° horizontal range with respect to reference line 220 and a ±7.5° vertical range with respect to reference line 220. Additionally, optical beam 125 in FIG. 2 has an orientation of approximately −15° horizontal and +3° vertical with respect to reference line 220. Optical beam 125 may be referred to as having an azimuth of −15° and an altitude of +3° relative to reference line 220, paragraph 71);
applying the change value to a reference value determining each of the distance ranges to reestablish each of the distance ranges (e.g., In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71); and
collecting depth data from the at least one region of interest (e.g., A distance to a portion of target 130 may be determined based at least in part on a time-of-flight measurement for a corresponding pulse, paragraph 73, figure 1). i
Eichenholz in one embodiment, does not specifically disclose setting at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges.
Eichenholz in another embodiment, discloses setting at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges (e.g., in particular embodiments, each pixel 210 may be associated with a distance (e.g., a distance to a portion of a target 130 from which an associated laser pulse was scattered) or one or more angular values. As an example, a pixel 210 may be associated with a distance value and two angular values (e.g., an azimuth and altitude) that represent the angular location of the pixel 210 with respect to the lidar system 10, paragraph 73).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Eichenholz to include setting at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges as taught by Eichenholz by another embodiment. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Eichenholz by the teaching of Eichenholz’ another embodiment to apply for particular application.
Regarding claim 2, Eichenholz discloses wherein a number of the at least one region of interest decreases as a distance among the reestablished distance ranges increases (e.g., The overlap mirror 115 may be oriented so that input beam 135 and output beam 125 are at least partially overlapped. In particular embodiments, input beam 135 may pass through a lens 756 which focuses the beam onto an active region of the receiver 140 (e.g., the active region may have a diameter d), paragraph 193).
Regarding claim 3, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value includes a difference between an arrangement distance of a reflector having a Lambertian reflectance of 80% or more, and a measurement distance regarding the arrangement distance classified based on at least one preset threshold in the entire valid measurement distance (e.g., As an example, mirror 115 (which may be referred to as an overlap mirror, superposition mirror, or beam-combiner mirror) may include a hole, slot, or aperture which output light beam 125 passes through. As another example, mirror 115 may be configured so that at least 80% of output beam 125 passes through mirror 115 and at least 80% of input beam 135 is reflected by mirror 115. In particular embodiments, mirror 115 may provide for output beam 125 and input beam 135 to be substantially coaxial so that the two beams travel along substantially the same optical path (albeit in opposite directions), paragraph 57).
Regarding claim 4, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value is associated with values that the laser positions move in a common direction in a common region of interest for the entire valid measurement distance, the common region of interest determined as a region in which at least one laser position is included from the preset number of distance ranges. Figure 2
Regarding claim 5, Eichenholz discloses wherein the calculating the change value comprises: determining, as a group, some laser positions of which the change value among the laser positions is within a preset deviation; and calculating a second average value of the change values of the some laser positions corresponding to the group (e.g., a lidar system 100 may be configured to scan output optical beam 125 along one or more particular scan patterns 200. In particular embodiments, a scan pattern 200 may have any suitable horizontal FOR (FOR.sub.H) and any suitable vertical FOR (FOR.sub.v). For example, a scan pattern 200 may have a field of regard (e.g., FOR.sub.H×FOR.sub.V) of 40°×30°, 90°×40°, or 60°×15°. As another example, a scan pattern 200 may have a FOR.sub.H greater than or equal to 10°, 25°, 30°, 40°, 60°, 90°, or 120°, paragraph 71).
Regarding claim 6, Eichenholz discloses wherein the applying the change value comprises: calculating an adjusted reference value by adding the second average value to the reference value; and reestablishing each of the distance ranges based on the adjusted reference value (e.g., In the example of FIG. 2, reference line 220 represents a center of the field of regard of scan pattern 200. In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71).
Regarding claim 7, Eichenholz discloses wherein a number of the distance ranges is three, and the reference value includes two criteria for determining three distance ranges (e.g., In particular embodiments, a lidar system 100 may be configured to scan output optical beam 125 along one or more particular scan patterns 200. In particular embodiments, a scan pattern 200 may have any suitable horizontal FOR (FOR.sub.H) and any suitable vertical FOR (FOR.sub.v), paragraph 71).
Regarding claim 8, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value is applied equally to the two criteria (e.g., In the example of FIG. 2, reference line 220 represents a center of the field of regard of scan pattern 200. In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71).
Regarding claim 9, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value is less at a long distance range among the distance ranges than at a short distance range among the distance ranges (e.g., In particular embodiments, an azimuth (which may be referred to as an azimuth angle) may represent a horizontal angle with respect to reference line 220, and an altitude (which may be referred to as an altitude angle, elevation, or elevation angle) may represent a vertical angle with respect to reference line 220, paragraph 71).
Regarding claim 10, Eichenholz discloses a LiDAR system (e.g., FIG. 1 illustrates an example light detection and ranging (lidar) system, paragraph 7) comprising:
an emitter configured to emit light (e.g., The light source 110 may be, for example, a laser which emits light having a particular operating wavelength in the infrared, visible, or ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, paragraph 49);
a receiver configured to receive reflected light corresponding to the light (e.g., receiver 140 may receive or detect photons from input beam 135 and generate one or more representative signals, paragraph 51); and
a control circuit configured to output depth data based on reflected light corresponding to a preset number of regions of interest, determined according to a distance, among the reflected light collected through the receiver (e.g., This electrical signal 145 may be sent to controller 150. In particular embodiments, controller 150 may include a processor, computing system (e.g., an ASIC or FPGA), or other suitable circuitry configured to analyze one or more characteristics of the electrical signal 145 from the receiver 140 to determine one or more characteristics of the target 130, such as its distance downrange from the lidar system 100, paragraph 51),
wherein the distance is adjusted based on a change value for laser positions for emitting the light (e.g., if lidar system 100 measures a time of flight of T (e.g., T represents the round-trip time for light to travel from the lidar system 100 to the target 130 and back to the lidar system 100), then the distance D from the target 130 to the lidar system 100 may be expressed as D=c.Math.T/2, where c is the speed of light (approximately 3.0×10.sup.8 m/s), paragraph 51).
Regarding claim 11, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: control the emitter based on at least one information among a frequency or wavelength, an amplitude, and a time of the light; and control the receiver based on the information used for the emitter (e.g., light source 110 (which is emitter) may be a pulsed laser that produces pulses with a pulse duration of approximately 200-400 ps. As another example, light source 110 may be a pulsed laser that produces pulses at a pulse repetition frequency of approximately 100 kHz to 5 MHz or a pulse period (e.g., a time between consecutive pulses) of approximately 200 ns to 10 μs. In particular embodiments, light source 110 may have a substantially constant pulse repetition frequency, or light source 110 may have a variable or adjustable pulse repetition frequency, paragraph 52).
Regarding claim 12, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to transmit information regarding the preset number of regions of interest to the receiver (e.g., In particular embodiments, controller 150 may include a processor, computing system (e.g., an ASIC or FPGA), or other suitable circuitry configured to analyze one or more characteristics of the electrical signal 145 from the receiver 140 to determine one or more characteristics of the target 130, such as its distance downrange from the lidar system 100, paragraph 51), and wherein the receiver is configured to transmit sensed data corresponding to the preset number of regions of interest to the control circuit (e.g., In particular embodiments, controller 150 may be coupled to light source 110 and receiver 140, and controller 150 may determine a time-of-flight value for an optical pulse based on timing information associated with when the pulse was emitted by light source 110 and when a portion of the pulse (e.g., input beam 135) was detected or received by receiver 140, paragraph 62).
Regarding claim 13, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: receive sensed data corresponding to all regions of interest from the receiver; and process some sensed data corresponding to the preset number of regions of interest selected among all regions of interest (e.g., the lidar system 100 may include one or more lenses to focus the input beam 135 onto an active region of receiver 140. As another example, the lidar system 100 may include one or more flat mirrors or curved mirrors (e.g., concave, convex, or parabolic mirrors) to steer or focus the output beam 125 or the input beam 135. For example, the lidar system 100 may include an off-axis parabolic mirror to focus the input beam 135 onto an active region of receiver 140, paragraph 57).
Regarding claim 14, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: divide the entire valid measurement distance into a preset number of distance ranges (e.g., FIG. 2, reference line 220 represents a center of the field of regard of scan pattern 200. In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71);
calculate the change value for the laser positions applicable to the entire valid measurement distance (e.g., in FIG. 2, if the scan pattern 200 has a 60°×15° field of regard, then scan pattern 200 covers a ±30° horizontal range with respect to reference line 220 and a ±7.5° vertical range with respect to reference line 220. Additionally, optical beam 125 in FIG. 2 has an orientation of approximately −15° horizontal and +3° vertical with respect to reference line 220. Optical beam 125 may be referred to as having an azimuth of −15° and an altitude of +3° relative to reference line 220, paragraph 71);
apply the change value to a reference value determining each of the distance ranges to reestablish each of the distance ranges (e.g., In particular embodiments, reference line 220 may have any suitable orientation, such as for example, a horizontal angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may be oriented straight ahead) and a vertical angle of 0° (e.g., reference line 220 may have an inclination of 0°), or reference line 220 may have a nonzero horizontal angle or a nonzero inclination (e.g., a vertical angle of +10° or −10°), paragraph 71); and
collect depth data from the at least one region of interest (e.g., A distance to a portion of target 130 may be determined based at least in part on a time-of-flight measurement for a corresponding pulse, paragraph 73, figure 1).
Eichenholz in one embodiment, does not specifically disclose set at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges.
Eichenholz in another embodiment, discloses set at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Eichenholz to include setting at least one region of interest for each of the reestablished distance ranges as taught by Eichenholz by another embodiment. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Eichenholz by the teaching of Eichenholz’ another embodiment to apply for particular application.
Regarding claim 15, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value includes a difference between an arrangement distance of a reflector having a Lambertian reflectance of 80% or more, and a measurement distance regarding the arrangement distance classified based on at least one preset threshold in the entire valid measurement distance (e.g., As an example, mirror 115 (which may be referred to as an overlap mirror, superposition mirror, or beam-combiner mirror) may include a hole, slot, or aperture which output light beam 125 passes through. As another example, mirror 115 may be configured so that at least 80% of output beam 125 passes through mirror 115 and at least 80% of input beam 135 is reflected by mirror 115. In particular embodiments, mirror 115 may provide for output beam 125 and input beam 135 to be substantially coaxial so that the two beams travel along substantially the same optical path (albeit in opposite directions), paragraph 57).
Regarding claim 16, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: transmit the light to the reflector through the emitter; and collect the reflected light from the reflector through the receiver (e.g., In particular embodiments, an output beam of light 125 emitted by light source 110 may be unpolarized or randomly polarized, may have no specific or fixed polarization (e.g., the polarization may vary with time), or may have a particular polarization (e.g., output beam 125 may be linearly polarized, elliptically polarized, or circularly polarized). As an example, light source 110 may produce linearly polarized light, and lidar system 100 may include a quarter-wave plate that converts this linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light. The circularly polarized light may be transmitted as output beam 125, and lidar system 100 may receive input beam 135, which may be substantially or at least partially circularly polarized in the same manner as the output beam 125 (e.g., if output beam 125 is right-hand circularly polarized, then input beam 135 may also be right-hand circularly polarized, paragraph 56).
Regarding claim 17, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: calculate the change value including a difference between the arrangement distance in a common area of interest and a measured distance measured through the reflected light (e.g., The input beam 135 may pass through the same quarter-wave plate (or a different quarter-wave plate) resulting in the input beam 135 being converted to linearly polarized light which is orthogonally polarized (e.g., polarized at a right angle) with respect to the linearly polarized light produced by light source 110, paragraph 56); determine, as a group, some laser positions of which the change value among the laser positions is within a preset deviation; and calculate a second average value of the change values of the some laser positions corresponding to the group (e.g., lidar system 100 may employ polarization-diversity detection where two polarization components are detected separately. The output beam 125 may be linearly polarized, and the lidar system 100 may split the input beam 135 into two polarization components (e.g., s-polarization and p-polarization) which are detected separately by two photodiodes (e.g., a balanced photoreceiver that includes two photodiodes, paragraph 56).
Regarding claim 18, Eichenholz discloses wherein the control circuit is configured to: calculate an adjusted reference value by adding the second average value to the reference value; and reestablish each of the distance ranges based on the adjusted reference value (e.g., In particular embodiments, controller 150 may include a processor, computing system (e.g., an ASIC or FPGA), or other suitable circuitry configured to analyze one or more characteristics of the electrical signal 145 from the receiver 140 to determine one or more characteristics of the target 130, such as its distance downrange from the lidar system 100, paragraph 51). 51?
Regarding claim 19, Eichenholz discloses wherein a number of the distance ranges is three, and the reference value includes two criteria for determining three distance ranges (e.g., by analyzing the time of flight or phase modulation for a beam of light 125 transmitted by the light source 110. If lidar system 100 measures a time of flight of T (e.g., T represents the round-trip time for light to travel from the lidar system 100 to the target 130 and back to the lidar system 100), then the distance D from the target 130 to the lidar system 100 may be expressed as D=c.Math.T/2, where c is the speed of light (approximately 3.0×10.sup.8 m/s). As an example, if a time of flight is measured to be T=300 ns, then the distance from the target 130 to the lidar system 100 may be determined to be approximately D=45.0 m. As another example, if a time of flight is measured to be T=1.33 μs, then the distance from the target 130 to the lidar system 100 may be determined to be approximately D=199.5 m. In particular embodiments, a distance D from lidar system 100 to a target 130 may be referred to as a distance, depth, or range of target 130, paragraph 51).
Regarding claim 20, Eichenholz discloses wherein the change value is applied equally to the two criteria (e.g., as used herein, the speed of light c refers to the speed of light in any suitable medium, such as for example in air, water, or vacuum. As an example, the speed of light in vacuum is approximately 2.9979×10.sup.8 m/s, and the speed of light in air (which has a refractive index of approximately 1.0003) is approximately 2.9970×10.sup.8 m/s, paragraph 51).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG N VO whose telephone number is (571)270-1121. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7AM-4PM, EST.
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/QUANG N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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