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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/30/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Examiner acknowledges the amending of claims 1, 4, 6-8 and the addition of claim 14.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 4 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The Examiner notes an updated rejection relying on US 2007/0053400 is presented to account for the new claim limitations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 6-12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yao et al. (US 2009/0080472) in view of Sinha et al. (US 2007/0053400).
With respect to claim 1, Yao discloses an optical fiber connector (fig.1) comprising: amplifying fibers (each different active section formed from separate fibers, [0130]) in which an active element activated by excitation light is added to a core of each of the amplifying fibers ([0067,69]), wherein the amplifying fibers are connected together such that an absorption rate of excitation light per unit length increases with an increase of a distance from an incident end of the excitation light ([0074, 75], absorption rate of pump light increases due to increase in doping amounts, [0106, 109, 138], fig.5), and a mode field diameter of laser light propagating through the core is same among the amplifying fibers ([0072]), the amplifying fibers are connected together such that a concentration of the active element in the core increases with the increase in distance ([0074, 75], absorption amount of pump light increases due to increase in doping amounts, [0,106, 109, 138], fig.5),the core of each of the amplifying fibers has a same diameter ([0070]), and the absorption rate of an excitation light per unit length in each of the amplifying fibers is constant over an entire length thereof (based on constant doping in each section, [0023]). Yao further teaches the preferred doping of Yb ([0068]), and the desire to further shorten the length of the amplifying fibers to reduce SRS/SBS nonlinear effects ([0048, 96]), but does not teach a total length of the amplifying fibers is 12m or less. Sinha teaches a related doped fiber device using different Yb doping amounts in different fiber sections (fig.2, [0023]) and further teaches that the total length of the doped portions (fig.2 #214/218/216) to be less than 12m ([0023]; 4+2+4 = 10m). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to adapt the doping concentration, while maintaining the differing doping amounts, and lengths of the amplifying fibers such that the total length is under 12m as Sinha has demonstrated such Yb doping and lengths are possible and which provides high absorption of the pump light (Sinha, [0023]; greater than 99%) while maintaining a short length to avoid non-linear effects (Sinha, [0026]) as is desired by Yao (Yao, [0048, 96]).
With respect to claim 2, Yao, as modified, discloses the amplifying fibers each include a cladding that surrounds the core (fig.1 #31/32), and the amplifying fibers are connected together such that an amount of the active element per unit volume of a fiber composed of the core and the cladding increases sequentially with the increase of the distance ([0075, 106] size remains same while concentration rises).
With respect to claim 6, Yao, as modified, discloses the amplifying fibers comprise: a first amplifying fiber (fig.4c #2a on left); and a second amplifying fiber (fig.4c #2b on left; or #2c in center), the excitation light is incident on a first end of the first amplifying fiber (as seen in fig.7 via #73a), an absorption rate of the excitation light per unit length of the first amplifying fiber is a first absorption rate ([0106, 109]), a first end of the second amplifying fiber is connected to a second end of the first amplifying fiber (as seen in fig.4c), and an absorption rate of the excitation light per unit length of the second amplifying fiber is a second absorption rate larger than the first absorption rate ([0106, 109]).
With respect to claim 7, Yao discloses the amplifying fibers further comprise a third amplifying fiber (fig.4c #2c), one end of the third amplifying fiber is connected to a second end of the second amplifying fiber (as seen in fig.4c), and an absorption rate of the excitation light per unit length of the third amplifying fiber is set to a third absorption rate larger than the second absorption amount ([0106, 109]).
With respect to claim 8, Yao discloses the amplifying fibers further comprise a third amplifying fiber (fig.4c #2b on right), a first end of the third amplifying fiber is connected to a second end of the second amplifying fiber (as seen in fig.4c), an absorption rate of the excitation light per unit length of the third amplifying fiber is a third absorption rate smaller than the second absorption amount ([0106, 109] when the second is #2c in center), and the excitation light is incident on a second end of the third amplifying fiber (as seen in fig.7 via #74).
With respect to claim 9, Yao discloses the third absorption rate is larger than the first absorption rate ([0106, 109] #2a on left compared to #2b on right).
With respect to claim 10, Yao discloses a fiber laser device (fig.7) comprising: the optical fiber connector according to Claim1 (fig.7 #1); an excitation light source that outputs the excitation light (fig.7 #73a); a combiner (fig.7 #76) that couples the excitation light to the optical fiber connector; and an output end (fig.7 near label “L”) that outputs light amplified by the optical fiber connector to an outside of the fiber laser device.
With respect to claim 11, Yao, as modified, teaches the device outlined above, including FBG-formed (Fiber Bragg Grating-formed) are connected to both ends of the optical fiber connector (fig.7 #77a/b, [0062]), and the combiner couples the excitation light to the optical fiber connector via one of the FBGs (fig.7 via left FBG). Yao does not make clear the FBGs are formed in separate fiber sections. Sinha teaches a related doped fiber device using different doping in different fiber sections (fig.1) and further teaches the use of FBGs in separate fibers ([0018]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to make use of separate fibers within which the FBGs are formed and then spliced to the laser device of Yao as demonstrated by Sinha in order to ease manufacturing by allowing for the separate construction of the individual elements.
With respect to claim 12, Yao, as modified, teaches the device outlined above, including a fiber laser device (fig.7) comprising: a first excitation light source (fig.7 #73a) that outputs first excitation light; a second excitation light source that outputs second excitation light (fig.7 #73b); the optical fiber connector according to Claim 8; FBGs connected to both ends of the optical fiber connector (fig.7 #77a/b, [0062]); a first combiner that couples the first excitation light output from the first excitation light source to the optical fiber connector via a first one of the FBGs (fig.7 #76 on left); a second combiner that couples the second excitation light output from the second excitation light source to the optical fiber connector via a second one of the FBGs (fig.7 #76 on right); and an output end configured to output light amplified by the optical fiber connector to an outside of the fiber laser device (fig.7 near label “L”). Yao does not make clear the FBGs are formed in separate fiber sections. Sinha teaches a related doped fiber device using different doping in different fiber sections (fig.1) and further teaches the use of FBGs in separate fibers ([0018]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to make use of separate fibers within which the FBGs are formed and then spliced to the laser device of Yao as demonstrated by Sinha in order to ease manufacturing by allowing for the separate construction of the individual elements.
With respect to claim 14, Yao, as modified, teaches the device outlined above, but does not specify the concentration of the active element in each core of the amplifying fibers causes 99% or more of the excitation light incident on the incident end to be absorbed in the amplifying fibers before the excitation light reaches an opposite end of the amplifying fibers. Sinha further teaches the doping levels to achieve more than 99% absorption from end to end ([0023], 80dB/m *4m, 550dB/m * 2m, 80dB/m *4m; values greater than 20dB corresponding to more than 99%, see Applicant spec [0075]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to adapt the doping of Yao to values allowing for 99% or more of the pump light to be absorbed end to end as Sinha has demonstrated such values in a similar system with same dopant (Yb) and would allow for taking maximum advantage of the pump conversion to gain in the laser.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yao and Sinha in view of Inagaki et al. (JP2000-031571; applicant submitted prior art and translation).
With respect to claim 4, Yao teaches an optical fiber connector (fig.1) comprising: amplifying fibers (each different active section formed from separate fibers, [0130]) in which an active element activated by excitation light is added to a core of each of the amplifying fibers ([0067,69]), wherein the amplifying fibers are connected together such that an absorption amount of excitation light per unit length increases with an increase of a distance from an incident end of the excitation light ([0074, 75], absorption amount of pump light increases due to increase in doping amounts, [0138], fig.5), and a mode field diameter of laser light propagating through the core is same among the amplifying fibers ([0072]), the amplifying fibers are connected together such that a concentration of the active element in the core increases with the increase in distance ([0074, 75], absorption amount of pump light increases due to increase in doping amounts, [0138], fig.5),the core of each of the amplifying fibers has a same diameter ([0070]), and the absorption amount of an excitation light per unit length in each of the amplifying fibers is constant over an entire length thereof (based on constant doping in each section, [0023]). Yao further teaches the preferred doping of Yb ([0068]), and the desire to further shorten the length of the amplifying fibers to reduce SRS/SBS nonlinear effects ([0048, 96]), but does not teach a total length of the amplifying fibers is 12m or less. Sinha teaches a related doped fiber device using different Yb doping amounts in different fiber sections (fig.2, [0023]) and further teaches that the total length of the doped portions (fig.2 #214/218/216) to be less than 12m ([0023]; 4+2+4 = 10m). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to adapt the doping concentration, while maintaining the differing doping amounts, and lengths of the amplifying fibers such that the total length is under 12m as Sinha has demonstrated such Yb doping and lengths are possible and which provides high absorption of the pump light (Sinha, [0023]; greater than 99%) while maintaining a short length to avoid non-linear effects (Sinha, [0026]) as is desired by Yao (Yao, [0048, 96]).
Yao, as modified, teaches the device outlined above, but does not teach the amplifying fibers are connected together such that an addition area of the active element in the core increases sequentially with the increase of the distance such that an active element concentration in the core of each of the amplifying fibers is the same among the amplifying fibers. Inagaki teaches a related doped fiber device using multiple doped sections (fig.1) and additionally teaches the doping increases from section to section via either an increase in concentration (like Yao) or via an increase in the doping diameter ([0014]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to adapt the device of Yao to make use of an increase in the doping diameter in place of the increase in concentration in Yao, thereby sequentially increasing the addition area with the increase in distance such that an active element concentration in the core of each of the amplifying fibers is the same among the amplifying fibers, as Inagaki has demonstrated the absorption can be increased utilizing either method ([0014]) and would allow for a desired choice in how the fibers are manufactured (see also MPEP 2144.06 II and 2144.07).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yao in view of Sinha and Yo et al. (JP 2009-129989).
With respect to claim 13, Yao, as modified, teaches the device outlined above, but does not teach the amplifying fibers are multimode fibers. Yo teaches a related laser device with changing doping (fig.1) including the use of single or multimode fibers for the amplifying fibers (“Instead of the PCF type preform 65a shown in FIG. 6 (a), a preform 65b shown in FIG. 6 (b) used in a normal type rare earth-doped single mode optical fiber or multimode optical fiber is manufactured and cut.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the instant application to adapt the unstated fiber mode type of Yao to make use of multimode fiber as demonstrated by Yo in order to select a desired mode profile for supporting in the laser/amplifier device.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Please see the included pto892 for a list of related art.
US 2007/0053400 and 8611002 are noted as teaching similar subject matter to claim 1. The same is true with:
Elahi et al. (“Doping management for high-power fiber lasers: 1002, few picosecond pulse generation from an all fiber integrated amplifier”; Optics Letters, Vol. 27, no. 17, 08/01/2012)
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/TOD T VAN ROY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828