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 .
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) 1-5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menzel (20230258775) in view of Lin (20230375714).
Referring to claim 1, Menzel shows
at least one of the first scanning unit and the second scanning unit comprises:
a first optical branching unit configured to selectively switch a destination to which each of the optical signals from a plurality of light sources is output to one of output destinations of a plurality of channels (see figure 2 Ref 32 note the first four switches prior to the 6 waveguide crossings);
a crossing unit configured to cross at least some optical signals among the optical signals output from the first optical branching unit (see the 6 waveguide crossings between the first switching array Ref 32 including 4 switches and the second switching array Ref 32 including 8 switches); and
a second optical branching unit configured to receive the optical signals output from the crossing unit, and selectively switch a destination to which each of the optical signals is output to one of output destinations of a plurality of channels (see figure 2 note the second optical branching unit Ref 32 including 8 optical switches).
However Menzel fails to specifically show the scanning unit is placed in an in vehicle detection apparatus and also fails to show a second scanning unit that scans in a second direction intersecting the first direction.
Lin shows a similar device with a similar scanning structure that includes an in vehicle detection apparatus (see figure 1a-1c) Lin also shows a first scanning unit and a second scanning unit that scans in a first and second intersecting directions (see the scanning system as shown in figure 5 and note the raster scan as shown in paragraph 98 that inherently shows a first and second scanning direction that intersect.
Referring to claim 2, Menzel shows the first optical branching unit comprises:
first optical switches configured to receive an optical signal from a first light source and selectively output the optical signal from one of output destinations of a first predetermined number of channels (see the first top optical switch of the optical switches figure 2 Ref 32 that receives light from the light source 22a); and
second optical switches configured to receive an optical signal from a second light source and selectively output the optical signal from one of output destinations of channels of a second predetermined number (see figure 2 note the second optical switch that receives light from the optical source Ref 22b),
the crossing unit crosses at least some optical signals among the optical signals output from the first optical switches and the optical signals output from the second optical switches (see the first crossing unit that includes 6 optical waveguide crosses), and
the second optical branching unit comprises:
the first predetermined number of third optical switches, each configured to receive the optical signal output from the first optical switches among the optical signals output from the crossing unit and selectively output the optical signal from one of output destinations of a third predetermined number of channels (see figure 2 note the top four switches of the eight switches that then deliver light to the second crossing unit Ref 36); and
the second predetermined number of fourth optical switches (see figure 2 note the bottom four switches of the group of eight switches Ref 32), each configured to receive the optical signal output from the second optical switches among the optical signals output from the crossing unit and selectively output the optical signal from one of output destinations of the third predetermined number of channels (see the signals that are routed to the second optical crossing unit and then delivered to the output Ref 26).
Referring to claim 3, Menzel shows the crossing unit comprises a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of output terminals (see the input terminals of the first group of crossing unit that comes from the four switches Ref 32),
the plurality of input terminals includes input terminals of the first predetermined number of channels to which the optical signals from the first light source are input and input terminals of the second predetermined number of channels to which the optical signals from the second light source are input (see figure 2 not the first predetermined number of input terminals of the six switches Ref 32),
the plurality of output terminals includes output terminals of the first predetermined number of channels which output the optical signals from the first light source and output terminals of the second predetermined number of channels which output the optical signals from the second light source (see the output terminals shown in figure 2 Ref 36), and
the crossing unit crosses the optical signals such that the optical signals input to channels which are adjacent to each other at the input terminals of the plurality of channels are output from channels which are not adjacent to each other at the output terminals of the plurality of channels (note the crossing performed by the crossing unit Ref 36 that outputs to the second switching unit figure 2 note the column of the second 8 switches).
Referring to claim 4, Menzel shows the crossing unit is provided between the first and second optical switches and the third and fourth optical switches (see figure 2 note the first and second optical switches Ref 32 from light source 22a and 22b and the third and fourth optical switches figure 2 note the top 4 and bottom 4 switches Ref 32 and the crossing unit between them Ref 36).
Referring to claim 5, Menzel shows a microprocessor and a memory connected to the microprocessor, wherein
the microprocessor is configured to perform:
outputting control signals to the first optical switches and the third optical switches such that an optical signal from the first light source is projected to a first region in the field of view (see the control unit figure 1 Ref 20 also see paragraph 71-72); and
outputting control signals to the second optical switches and the fourth optical switches such that an optical signal from the second light source is projected to the second region in the field of view at a same timing as the optical signal projected to the first region (see the control unit and note the control of the light from each of the light sources Ref 22a-22d as shown by paragraph 70-72).
Referring to claim 9, the combination of Menzel and Lin shows the first direction is a vertical direction, and
the second direction is a horizontal direction (note the raster scan of Lin inherently shows one direction of the scan is horizontal and one direction of the scan is vertical). It would have been obvious to include the raster scan as shown by Lin because this an extremely common scanning pattern for a vehicle borne LIDAR device for scanning a field of regard.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUKE D RATCLIFFE whose telephone number is (571)272-3110. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM EST.
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/LUKE D RATCLIFFE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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