DETAILED ACTION
This office action addresses Applicant’s response filed on 15 August 2025. Claims 51-70 are pending.
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 § 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)(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.
Claim(s) 62 and 63 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ibrahim (US 2019/0235031).
Regarding claim 62, Chen discloses a nuclear quantum bit, comprising: a device for controlling at least one nuclear quantum dot (¶85);
a substrate and optionally, an epitaxial layer (Figs. 2 or 9, diamond layer); and
the at least one nuclear quantum dot (Figs. 2, 9, or 16, NVs/qubits; ¶85); wherein:
the device for controlling the at least one nuclear quantum dot is configured to generate an electromagnetic wave field at respective locations of the at least one nuclear quantum dot (Figs. 2 or 9, magnetic field generator or microwave pulse control; ¶85);
the epitaxial layer, when present, is deposited on the substrate; the substrate, or the epitaxial layer when present, has a surface (Figs. 2 or 9, diamond layer surfaces);
the nuclear quantum dots comprise isotopes having a magnetic moment in a form of a nuclear spin; and the device for controlling the at least one nuclear quantum dot is located on the surface (Figs. 2 or 9, magnetic field generator or current array on diamond; ¶62), and further wherein:
the device for driving the plurality of nuclear quantum dots comprises an electrical horizontal line (Figs. 2 or 9, magnetic field generator or current arrays both have electrical horizontal lines); and
wherein the substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of diamond, 4H-SiC, 6H-SiC, 3C-SiC, germanium, and mixed crystals of elements of group IV of the periodic table, excluding elemental silicon (¶85), and
wherein green light is used to reset the at least one nuclear quantum dot, and wherein the device structure allows said green light to reach the nuclear quantum dot from above or from the backside of the substrate (¶86).
Regarding claim 63, Ibrahim discloses that the device for controlling the plurality of nuclear quantum dots is firmly connected to the surface (Fig. 2, nanodiamond layer deposited on integrated circuit).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. Applicant asserts that the prior art fails to teach newly-added limitations, which are addressed above using newly-cited prior art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 51-61 and 64-70 are allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARIC LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3090. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 07:30-17:00 ET.
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24 January 2026
/ARIC LIN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2851
/JACK CHIANG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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