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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 20 June 2025 has been entered.
Status of Claims
The examiner acknowledges the amendments to claim 1 and addition of new claim 26. Claims 1-7, 22-23, and 26 remain pending in the application. Claims 8-21 and 24-25 are withdrawn from consideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-7 and 22-23 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.
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 1-3, 22-23, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hotate et al. (US Patent No. 8,724,101 B2), hereinafter Hotate, in view of Wang et al. (CN 111721338 A), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claim 1, Hotate teaches an optical fiber characteristics measurement system (abstract, Fig. 1) comprising:
an optical fiber characteristics measurement device (Fig. 1 optical fiber characteristic measurement device 1) comprising:
an emission port (Fig. 1 optical brancher 12 represents an emission port) configured to emit probe light (see Fig. 1 probe light L1, abstract, col. 6 lines 21-38); and
an incidence and emission port (Fig. 1 directional coupler 18 represents an incidence and emission port) connected to one end of a measurement target optical fiber (see Fig. 1 optical fiber 16 is the measurement target fiber) and configured to emit pump light (see Fig. 1 pump light L2, abstract, col. 6 lines 49-57), stimulated Brillouin scattered light generated within the measurement target optical fiber being incident on the incidence and emission port (col. 6 line 49-col. 7 line 2);
a first optical fiber (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) below; it is the examiner’s position that the indicated lines in the marked-up figure below are optical fibers) having one end connected to the emission port (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) below) and configured to guide the probe light to another end of the measurement target optical fiber (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) below, col. 5 line 58-col. 6 line 38);
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Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2)
and an optical isolator (Fig. 1 optical isolator 15) provided between another end of the first optical fiber and the other end of the measurement target optical fiber (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) above), and configured to cause the probe light guided by the first optical fiber to be incident on the other end of the measurement target optical fiber (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) above, specifically probe light L1, col. 6 lines 32-38), wherein the first optical fiber guides the probe light to the measurement target optical fiber via the optical isolator (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) above, specifically probe light L1, col. 6 lines 32-38).
Hotate is silent with respect to the first optical fiber being a single mode fiber.
Wang, which relates to an optical fiber sensing system and is thus from the same field of endeavor as Hotate, teaches a first optical fiber which is a single mode fiber (see Wang Fig. 1 the fiber connecting elements 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 is a single mode fiber, see paragraph 0043).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the first optical fiber of Hotate to be a single mode fiber, as taught by Wang, for the benefit of making the optical fiber characteristics measurement system’s optical path more stable and enhancing the accuracy of measurement results (see Wang paragraph 0043).
Regarding claim 2, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, and further teaches the optical isolator is disposed so that an optical path length from the optical isolator to the other end of the measurement target optical fiber is smaller than an optical path length from the one end of the first optical fiber to the optical isolator (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) above and col. 6 lines 21-38; it is the examiner’s position that the light delayer 14 causes the optical path length from one end of the first optical fiber to the optical isolator 15 to be longer than the path length from the optical isolator 15 to the other end of measurement target optical fiber 16).
Regarding claim 3, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, and further teaches the optical isolator is disposed at a position at which a correlation peak between the probe light and the pump light is not generated between the optical isolator and the other end of the measurement target optical fiber (see Hotate col. 6 lines 21-38).
Regarding claim 22, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, and further teaches both the probe light and the pump light are frequency-modulated light (see Hotate abstract, col. 4 lines 23-35, col. 5 line 58-col. 6 line 48).
Regarding claim 23, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, and further teaches the probe light is continuous light, and the pump light is pulsed light (see Hotate abstract, col. 4 lines 23-35, col. 6 lines 39-57, col. 11 lines 5-8).
Regarding claim 26, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, and further teaches the another end of the first optical fiber which is the single mode fiber is connected to an incidence end of the optical isolator (see Marked-Up Fig. 1 of Hotate et al. (US 8,724,101 B2) above, the first optical fiber being a single mode fiber via the modification outlined above).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hotate in view of Wang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of JAASKELAINEN et al. (US 2014/0285795 A1, of record), hereinafter JAASKELAINEN.
Regarding claim 4, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, but does not teach the measurement target optical fiber and the first optical fiber comprise one plural core fiber or one multi core fiber.
JAASKELAINEN, which relates to optical fiber sensing systems, teaches the use of multicore optical fibers in a system designed to capture Brillouin scattered light (see JAASKELAINEN Fig. 4-5 cores 40 and 42, paragraph 0026-0031).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the measurement target optical fiber and the first optical fiber of Hotate (as modified by Wang) to comprise one plural core fiber or one multi core fiber, as taught by JAASKELAINEN, for the benefit of reducing penetrations, which reduces the time and expense in installation and maintenance of the system (see JAASKELAINEN paragraph 0034).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hotate in view of Wang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hotate et al. (US 2009/0141267 A1, of record), hereinafter Hotate II.
Regarding claim 5, Hotate, as modified by Wang, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 1, as outlined above, but does not teach an optical amplifier configured to amplify the probe light guided by the first optical fiber.
Hotate II, which relates to optical fiber characteristic measuring systems, teaches an optical amplifier configured to amplify the probe light guided by the first optical fiber (Hotate II: Fig. 1 erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) 7, paragraph 0067, 0072, 0077).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the optical fiber characteristics measurement system of Hotate (as modified by Wang) to include an optical amplifier configured to amplify the probe light guided by the first optical fiber, as taught by Hotate II, for the benefit of enhancing the power of the light propagating through the first optical fiber.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hotate in view of Wang and Hotate II as applied to claims 1 and 5 above, and further in view of Baggs et al. (US 2007/0036550 A1, of record), hereinafter Baggs, and Stallard et al. (US Patent No. 5,724,149 A, of record), hereinafter Stallard.
Regarding claim 6, Hotate, as modified by Wang and Hotate II, teach the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 5, as outlined above, and further teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement device supplies power to the optical amplifier (see Hotate II Fig. 1, it is implicit that the optical fiber characteristics measurement device of Hotate II powers the EDFA 7), but does not teach a cable configured to connect the optical fiber characteristics measurement device to the optical amplifier, wherein the optical fiber characteristics measurement device supplies power to the optical amplifier via the cable.
Baggs, which relates to supplying power to optical amplifiers, teaches supplying power to an EDFA via a cable (see Baggs paragraph 0007).
Therefore, since the optical fiber characteristics measurement device of Hotate (as modified by Wang and Hotate II) supplies power to the optical amplifier, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the optical fiber characteristics measurement device of Hotate (as modified by Wang and Hotate II) to include the cable of Baggs such that the cable is configured to connect the optical fiber characteristics measurement device to the optical amplifier, wherein the optical fiber characteristics measurement device supplies power to the optical amplifier via the cable, as doing so beneficially replaces some of the `fillers` used in the cable construction whilst avoiding compromising the main power feeds (see Baggs paragraph 0007).
Yet remaining, Hotate, as modified by Wang, Hotate II, and Baggs, does not teach the optical fiber characteristics measurement device transmits a control signal to the optical amplifier via the cable.
Stallard, which relates to optical fiber communication systems, teaches supplying a control signal to an optical fiber amplifier via a cable (Stallard: col. 5 lines 38-60).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the optical fiber characteristics measurement device of Hotate (as modified by Wang, Hotate II, and Baggs) to transmit a control signal to the optical amplifier via the cable, as taught by Stallard, for the benefit of maintaining a substantially constant output (see Stallard col. 5 lines 38-60).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hotate in view of Wang and Hotate II as applied to claims 1 and 5 above, and further in view of Wang (CN 207623659 U), hereinafter Wang II, and Ye et al. (US Patent No. 6,782,199 B1, of record), hereinafter Ye.
Regarding claim 7, Hotate, as modified by Wang and Hotate II, teaches the optical fiber characteristics measurement system according to claim 5, as outlined above, but does not teach power from an external power supply is supplied to the optical amplifier.
Wang II, which relates to optical fiber amplifiers, teaches an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (see Wang II Fig. 1 and claim 1) wherein power from an external power supply is supplied to the optical amplifier (see Wang II claim 1 reciting that the EDFA has a power connector 3 which is electrically coupled with an external power supply).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the optical fiber characteristics measurement system of Hotate (as modified by Wang and Hotate II) to have power from an external power supply be supplied to the optical amplifier, as taught by Wang II, for the benefit of improving the ability to adjust the power being supplied to the optical amplifier by not needing to adjust the power of the entire optical fiber characteristics measurement system.
Yet remaining, Hotate, as modified by Wang, Hotate II, and Wang II, does not teach the optical fiber characteristics measurement device transmits a control signal to the optical amplifier using a radio signal.
Ye, which relates to optical fiber control systems, teaches transmitting a control signal to an optical fiber amplifier using a radio signal (see Ye Fig. 2, col. 4 line 62-col. 5 line 16).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the optical fiber characteristics measurement device of Hotate (as modified by Wang, Hotate II, and Wang II) to transmit a control signal to the optical amplifier using a radio signal, as taught by Ye, for the benefit of reducing the complexity and cost of the optical fiber characteristics measurement system (see Ye col. 3 lines 59-62).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tanaka et al. (US 2024/0133720 A1), Voskoboinik et al. (US 2013/0025374 A1), Sasaoka et al. (US 2010/0238427 A1), and Yamamoto et al. (US Patent No. 7,543,982 B2) all relate to optical fiber sensors that measure Brillouin scattered light.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NOAH J HANEY whose telephone number is (571)270-1282. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-6pm eastern time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michelle Iacoletti can be reached at (571) 270-5789. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NOAH J. HANEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/MICHELLE M IACOLETTI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877