DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to Applicant’s amendment filed April 14, 2026.
Drawings
The drawings (replacement Fig. 1) were received on April 14, 2026. These drawings are accepted.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant has amended claim 9 to reflect elected species B and elected subspecies 2, and requests accordingly that claim 9 and its dependent claims 10-12 and 14 be examined on the merits. Examiner agrees; claims 9-12 and 14 are no longer withdrawn from consideration and are examined on the merits. However, claim 13 remains withdrawn as belonging to non-elected subspecies.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks filed April 14, 2026, pp. 8-10, regarding the 35 USC 102 rejection of claims 15 have been considered but are moot in view of a new grounds of rejection applying the same reference (Cryan, US2022/0069535). Applicant argues, Cryan does not disclose that the isolator wavelength division multiplexer (IWDM) receives the amplified initial signal from the EDF, and that the IWDM does not isolate noise in the amplified initial signal received from the EDF (p. 8 3rd para.). Applicant’s arguments are directed to Fig. 3 of Cryan; however, the Examiner cites further embodiments of an EDF disclosed by Cryan which disclose the configuration and function of the argued claim limitation.
Applicant further argues regarding the 35 USC 103 rejection of claims 16-20 over Honea in view of Cryan, that Cryan does not disclose the elements above in connection with amended independent claim 15. The argument is moot in view of a new grounds of rejection applying Cryan in view of Honea.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim
Claim(s) 9, 15-16, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cryan (US2022/0069535, effective filing date Sept. 3, 2020).
With regard to claim 9, Cryan discloses an optical amplification system, comprising (reference numbers from Fig. 3 and para. [0030] )
An active (erbium-doped) fiber (340) configured to receive an input signal; and
A combiner (IWDM 310) configured to receive an excitation (pump) signal and couple the excitation signal (3808) to the active fiber,
Wherein the excitation signal and input signal have opposite travel directions (Para. [0036], “an isolator may be replaced by a second IWDM that facilitates the use of a reverse pump configuration where pump power travels in the opposite direction to the signal power”, replacing isolator 350 with an IWDM to couple excitation signal in reverse direction),
Wherein the active fiber is configured to generated an amplified input signal based on the excitation signal and the input signal, and
Wherein the combiner is directly coupled to the active fiber (note that the pigtail 380C is part of the combiner IWDM as shown in Fig. 1, and is splice coupled directly to EDF 340 “The included components are optically connected via pigtail splices 345A and 345B”).
With regard to claim 15, Cryan discloses an optical amplification system, comprising (reference numbers from Fig. 3 and para. [0030] )
An active (erbium-doped) fiber (340) configured to receive and amplify an initial signal to generate an amplified initial signal; and
An isolator-combiner (IWDM 310) configured to:
Couple an excitation signal (from 3808) to the active fiber, wherein the active fiber is configured to generate the amplified initial signal based on the excitation signal and the initial signal; and
Receive the amplified initial signal from the active fiber, and isolate noise in the amplified initial signal to generate an input signal (in embodiment of para. [0036], IWDM placed at (350) isolates the noise of the amplified signal).
With regard to claim 16, the excitation is coupled to the isolator-combiner by backward coupling (Para. [0036], “an isolator may be replaced by a second IWDM that facilitates the use of a reverse pump configuration where pump power travels in the opposite direction to the signal power”, replacing isolator 350 with an IWDM to couple excitation signal in reverse direction).
With regard to claim 23, the isolator-combiner is directly coupled to the active fiber (note that the pigtail 380C is part of the combiner IWDM as shown in Fig. 1, and is splice coupled directly to EDF 340 “The included components are optically connected via pigtail splices 345A and 345B”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 10-12, 17-21, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cryan as applied to claims 9 and 15 above, and further in view of Honea et al. (US 2015/0138630).
Cryan does not disclose that the excitation signal comprises a plurality of signals each from a respective excitation source, nor that the isolator-combine comprises a (6+1)x1 pump signal combiner.
However, Honea et al. teaches in the same field of endeavor an optical amplification system (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 9) similar to that of Cryan, comprising an active fiber (gain fiber 122) configured to receive and amplify an initial signal to generate an amplified signal; and a combiner configured to combine an excitation signal (light from optical pumps 121) and the initial signal to generate the amplified signal. Honea further teaches that the excitation signal is coupled to the combiner by backward coupling (pump light counter-propagates through the second fiber segment, in the direction opposite that of the signal light, para. [0130]).
Regarding claims 10, 11, 17, and 18, Honea teaches the excitation light comprises a plurality of lights each from a respective excitation source, specifically six excitation sources, and the combiner comprises a (6+1)x1 pump-signal combiner (Fig. 9 (922) and para. [0093]). The excitation light configuration of Honea applied to the isolator combiner in the optical amplification system of Cryan would have resulted in the invention before the effective filing date of the application; one skilled in the art, e. g. an optical engineer, would have found it obvious to make such a substitution for advantages such as permitting high pump power without introducing modal instabilities in the active fiber, and generating high output power with increased stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold (para. [0095]).
Regarding claims 12 and 19, Cryan discloses that the active fiber is doped with erbium (para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 20, the configuration (of Fig. 1) taught by Honea includes a first active fiber (111) configured to receive an amplify an initial signal to generate an amplified signal, an isolator (119) to isolate noise in the amplified initial signal to generate an input signal, and a combiner configured to combine an excitation signal (inherent in amplifier). The configuration further comprises a second combiner to receive and combine the input signal and a second excitation signal (optical pump lights 121); a second active fiber (122) configured to receive the input signal and the second excitation signal from the combiner and generate a (further) amplified signal; and an end cap (124) configured to receive the amplified input signal and transmit the amplified signal as an output signal. These additional elements taught by Honea would have been obvious additions to the optical amplification system of Cryan before the effective filing date of the application, for the purpose of avoiding modal instabilities in a high-power laser output, used in applications that require high coherence such as LIDAR or beam combining (para. [0009]). Therefore, the additional elements would have been obvious to one skilled in the art.
With regard to claims 21, Cryan discloses that the IWDM is directly coupled to the active fiber (note that the pigtail 380C is part of the combiner IWDM as shown in Fig. 1, and is splice coupled directly to EDF 340 “The included components are optically connected via pigtail splices 345A and 345B”). The same configuration mutatis mutandis would have been obvious to one skilled in the art with respect to the connection between the second active fiber and the IWDM combiner.
Regarding claim 24, both Cryan disclose (para. [0036]) and Honea et al. teach (para. [0130] that the excitation signal and input signal have oppositive travel directions.
Note that the citations made herein are done so for the convenience of the applicant; they are in no way intended to be limiting. The prior art should be considered in its entirety.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14 and 22 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not disclose, an end cap fused with a combiner configured to receive an excitation signal and couple excitation signal to an active fiber, the excitation signal and input signal traveling in opposite directions, the combiner further being directly coupled to the active fiber. This statement is not intended to necessarily state all the reasons for allowance or all the details why the claims are allowed and has not been written to specifically or impliedly state that all the reasons for allowance are set forth (MPEP 1302.14).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Lee et al. (two references) disclose IWDM combiners with backward pumping signal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to ERIC L BOLDA whose telephone number is 571-272-8104. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:30am to 5pm.
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/ERIC L BOLDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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