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 .
Specification
The attempt to incorporate subject matter into this application by reference to US patent application serial numbers 18348600, 1834296 and 18176163 in paragraphs [0071], [0072] and [0138], respectively, is ineffective because the references are to unpublished U.S. applications.
The incorporation of essential material in the specification by reference to an unpublished U.S. application, foreign application or patent, or to a publication is improper. Applicant is required to amend the disclosure to include the material incorporated by reference, if the material is relied upon to overcome any objection, rejection, or other requirement imposed by the Office. The amendment must be accompanied by a statement executed by the applicant, or a practitioner representing the applicant, stating that the material being inserted is the material previously incorporated by reference and that the amendment contains no new matter. 37 CFR 1.57(g).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “full” in claim 8 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “full” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term “full” renders the scope of the claim indefinite as it is unclear as to what is intended to be required for the histogram processing capabilities to be considered “full,” i.e., are certain processing features required? A particular number of processing features? Clarification is required.
The term “low” in claim 8 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “low” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term “low” renders the scope of the claim indefinite as it is unclear as to how “low” the power must be for consumption thereof to be considered “low.” Clarification 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 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-5, 7-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (EP 3370078 B1).
With respect to independent claim 1, Lee et al. discloses a time -of-flight sensor system, comprising:
a light emitter configured to emit light pulses toward a target ([0031], [0033], wherein a light source/light emitting diode is disclosed and the signal out of the light source is transmitter towards an object and is reflected by the object);
a detector array configured to detect reflected light pulses from the target ([0025]-[0027]; [0034], wherein the reflected light signal is detected by a light sensor/array of SPADs); and
a histogram processing circuit coupled to the detector array ([0030]) and configured to:
receive time-of-flight measurement data from the detector array ([0031]; [0041]; [0043]-[0044]),
process measurement data from the detector array using a sequential bin-by-bin histogram processing ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]; [0044]-[0046]), and
apply, during the sequential bin-by-bin histogram processing, one or more on-the-fly operations ([0047], wherein the histogram data is processed; [0048]-[0055], wherein various filtering operations are applied; [0069]; [0088]-[0110]).
With respect to dependent claim 2, Lee et al. discloses wherein the histogram processing circuit comprises a correlator circuit including:
an ambient multiply-accumulate (MAC) circuit configured to calculate an ambient light contribution ([0132]; [0167]);
a filter MAC circuit configured to perform a main correlation operation on the time of flight measurement data ([0156]-[0159]; [0174]-[0175]); and
a crosstalk MAC circuit configured to compute a crosstalk contribution ([0162]),
wherein the correlator circuit is configured to process the time-of-flight measurement data in a bin-serial manner ([0171]-[0173]).
With respect to dependent claim 3, Lee et al. discloses wherein the correlator circuit further comprises:
a closest target circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit and configured to determine a closest detected target ([0037]-[0038]; [0094]); and
a strongest maximum circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit and configured to identify a peak with a highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ([0117]-[0120]).
With respect to dependent claim 4, Lee et al. discloses wherein the histogram processing circuit comprises a phase/bin computation circuit including:
an ambient pad circuit configured to pad input data with ambient light values in response to the processing extending beyond available time-of-flight measurement data ([0132]; [0167]);
a zero-pad circuit configured to pad crosstalk data with zeros for out-of-range bins ([0138]);
a filter multiply-accumulate (MAC) circuit configured to apply filter coefficients to preprocessed histogram data within defined search and pulse windows ([0102]; ([0113]); [0168]; [0203]) and
a positive zero crossing detection circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit and configured to detect a positive zero crossing in filtered data output by the filter MAC circuit ([0138]; [0141]; [0151]; [0183]; [0205]).
With respect to dependent claim 5, Lee et al. discloses wherein the phase/bin computation circuit is further configured to calculate a median phase by interpolating current and previous filter values upon detection of the positive zero crossing ([0141]).
With respect to dependent claim 7, Lee et al. discloses wherein the histogram processing circuit is configured to process the time-of-flight measurement data using a sliding window of histogram data ([0171], [0179], wherein a rolling window of +/- n bins is disclosed).
With respect to dependent claim 8, Lee et al. discloses wherein the histogram processing circuit is configured to perform full histogram processing capabilities ([0029]) while maintaining low power consumption targets ([0032], wherein output is modulated, thereby maintaining low power consumption) for integration into battery-powered devices ([0206]).
With respect to dependent claim 9, Lee et al. discloses wherein the time-of-flight measurement data comprises histogram data ([0040], wherein the histogram data is applicable to any time of flight application), the histogram data including:
a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a time delay ([0031], wherein histogram data represents photon even detection counts for a number of time bins; [0035], wherein the SPADs are used in cycles having reactivations periods shorter than 10 ns, i.e., providing a time delay; [0037]-[0038], wherein the histogram data is shown as a series of bins for specific times); and
a value in each bin representing a number of photons detected at the corresponding time delay, wherein the histogram data represents a distribution of photon arrival times from the reflected light pulses ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]).
With respect to dependent claim 10, Lee et al. discloses wherein applying the one or more on-the-fly operations comprises: removing crosstalk in a pre-defined area of the histogram data ([0087]; [0101]-[0104]); tracking and finding a first peak in the histogram data, and tracking and finding a largest peak in the histogram data ([0038]; [0089]-[0090]; [0117]-[0120]).
With respect to independent claim 11, Lee et al. discloses a method for processing time-of-flight sensor data, the method comprising:
emitting light pulses towards a target ([0031], [0033], wherein a light source/light emitting diode is disclosed and the signal out of the light source is transmitter towards an object and is reflected by the object);
detecting reflected light pulses from the target ([0025]-[0027]; [0034], wherein the reflected light signal is detected by a light sensor/array of SPADs);
receiving time-of-flight measurement data based on the detected reflected light pulses ([0031]; [0041]; [0043]-[0044]);
processing the time-of-flight measurement data using sequential bin-by-bin histogram
processing, wherein the sequential bin-by-bin histogram processing comprises sequentially processing individual bins of a histogram, maintaining a state of a predetermined number of most recently processed bins, and generating output data for each bin before proceeding to a subsequent bin ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]; [0044]-[0046]); and
applying, during the sequential bin-by-bin histogram processing, one or more on-the-fly operations ([0047], wherein the histogram data is processed; [0048]-[0055], wherein various filtering operations are applied; [0069]; [0088]-[0110]).
With respect to dependent claim 12, Lee et al. discloses wherein processing the time-of-flight measurement data comprises:
calculating, by an ambient multiply-accumulate (MAC) circuit, an ambient light contribution ([0132]; [0167]);
performing, by a filter MAC circuit, a main correlation operation on the time-of-flight measurement data ([0156]-[0159]; [0174]-[0175]); and
computing, by a crosstalk MAC circuit, a crosstalk contribution, wherein the time-of-flight measurement data is processed in a bin-serial manner a crosstalk MAC circuit configured to compute a crosstalk contribution ([0162]; [0171]-[0173).
With respect to further dependent claim 13, Lee et al. discloses determining, by a closest target circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit, a closest detected target using a closest target circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit ([0037]-[0038]; [0094]); and identifying, by a strongest maximum circuit coupled to the filter MAC circuit, a peak with a highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ([0117]-[0120]).
With respect to dependent claim 14, Lee et al. discloses wherein processing the time-of-flight measurement data comprises: padding input data with ambient light values in response to the processing extending beyond available time-of-flight measurement data ([0132]; [0167]); padding crosstalk data with zeros for out-of-range bins ([0138]); applying filter coefficients to preprocessed histogram data within defined search and pulse windows ([0102]; ([0113]); [0168]; [0203]); and detecting a positive zero crossing in filtered data output by applying the filter coefficients ([0138]; [0141]; [0151]; [0183]; [0205]).
With respect to dependent claim 15, Lee et al. discloses . The method of claim 14, further comprising calculating a median phase ([0029]; [0125]-[0127]) by interpolating current and previous filter values in response to detecting a positive zero crossing ([0141]; [0147]; [0150]-[0159]; [0183]; [0201]-[0203]).
With respect to dependent claim 17, Lee et al. discloses wherein processing the time-of-flight measurement data comprises using a sliding window of histogram data ([0171], [0179], wherein a rolling window of +/- n bins is disclosed).
With respect to dependent claim 18, Lee et al. discloses wherein applying the one or more on-the-fly operations comprises: removing crosstalk in a pre-defined area of the histogram data; tracking and finding a first peak in the histogram data, and tracking and finding a largest peak in the histogram data ([0007]; [0049]; [0054]; [0101]; [0110]).
With respect to dependent claim 19, Lee et al. discloses wherein the time-of-flight measurement data comprises histogram data, the histogram data including: a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a time delay ([0031], wherein histogram data represents photon even detection counts for a number of time bins; [0035], wherein the SPADs are used in cycles having reactivations periods shorter than 10 ns, i.e., providing a time delay; [0037]-[0038], wherein the histogram data is shown as a series of bins for specific times); and a value in each bin representing a number of photons detected at the corresponding time delay, wherein the histogram data represents a distribution of photon arrival times from the reflected light pulses ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]).
With respect to independent claim 20, Lee et al. discloses a method for processing time-of-flight sensor data, the method comprising: receiving time-of-flight measurement data from a detector array, the measurement data representing reflected light pulses from a target ([0025]-[0027]; [0031], [0034]; [0041]; [0043]-[0044]); and processing the time-of-flight measurement data using a histogram processing circuit ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]; [0044]-[0046]), wherein the processing comprises: applying filter coefficients to the time-of-flight measurement data within defined search and pulse windows ([0102]; ([0113]); [0168]; [0203]), detecting a positive zero crossing in filtered data output by applying the filter coefficients, storing current and previous filter values upon detection of the positive zero crossing ([0141]), and calculating a median phase by interpolating the current and previous filter values ([0029]; [0125]-[0127]; [0141]; [0147]; [0150]-[0159]; [0183]; [0201]-[0203]), wherein the processing is performed in a bin-serial manner, sequentially processing individual bins of a histogram while maintaining a state of a predetermined number of most recently processed bins bin ([0031]; [0035]; [0037]-[0038]; [0044]-[0055]; [0069]; [0088]-[0110]).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al..
Lee et al. discloses the system and method, as set forth above with respect to claims 1 and 11, wherein the histogram processing circuit is further configured to generate/generates a crosstalk histogram using linear interpolation based on crosstalk calibration data ([0088]; [0120]; [0141]); and adaptively update/updates crosstalk correction during operation ([0089]; [0106]; [0112]-[0113]). The reference additionally suggests wherein the sampling rate impacts the silicon used ([0118]), as well as wherein over-correction may be performed to allow for the cross-talk pulse to shift over variations in temperature ([0106]). Although silent to wherein the crosstalk correction is updated based on silicon temperature data specifically, it would have been an obvious matter of choice and design to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide for such corrections based on silicon temperature data in order to yield the predictable result of preventing the correction subtraction from being fully effective in removing all of the cross-talk pulse and thus enabling the detection and parameter determination algorithms detecting a false target since such can also help to account for changes in the level of crosstalk received due to changes in the optical transmission and/or reflectance of materials.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2022/0390576 discloses a direct ToF sensor system that includes a light emitter, a detector and a histogram processing circuit.
US 2015/0041625 discloses methods of taking direct ToF measurements.
US 2021/0389462 discloses on-the-fly methods that include generating and updating an aggregated histogram in real-time or substantially real-time to provide major peak TOFs and/or minor peak TOFs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Angela M DiTrani Leff whose telephone number is (571)272-2182. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Doug Hutton can be reached at 5712724137. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Angela M DiTrani Leff/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3674
ADL
09/24/26
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