Detailed Office 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 .
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.
Claims 17, 23 - 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Deakin et al. (“Dual Frequency Comb Assisted analog-to-digital”, Journal Optical Society of America, Vol. 45, No. 1, 1 January 2020).
Regarding claim 17, Deakin et al. disclose a signal processor apparatus (fig. 2) comprising: a first photonic comb generator generating a first comb with a first tone spacing (fig. 2 comb generator operating at 26 GHz); a second photonic comb generator generating a second comb with a second tone spacing, the second tone spacing being different from the first comb spacing (fig. 2 comb generator operating at 27 GHz);; a modulator (IM, fig. 2) modulating the first comb with an analog input signal; a combiner (optical combiner downstream of the modulator in fig. 2) combining the modulated first comb with the second comb and directing the combination result to a first arm and to a second arm; a spectral filter unit (BPF, fig. 2) for each of the arms dividing combination result in each of the arms into a plurality of sub-bands; a plurality of photodetectors (note the diodes in fig. 1) including one of the photodetectors for each of the sub-bands of each of the arms, each of the photodetectors outputting an electrical signal carrying information on a respective one of the sub-bands (fig. 2); a phase-shifter (page 174, right hand column, lines 38 – 44) adjusting a relative phase of the first and second combs with respect to each other prior to the combiner; a sensor system (active passive mechanism) producing an output related to a phase difference between the first and second combs at the combiner (right hand column, lines 13 – 17) ; and a controller controlling the phase-shifter based on the output of the sensor system (page 174, left hand column, lines 18 – 20).
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Regarding claim 23, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein an output of the photodetector for each of the sub-bands in one of the arms is subtracted from an output of the photodetector for a corresponding one of the sub-bands in another of the arms (figs. 1, 2).
Regarding claim 24, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein each of the photodetectors is connected at an output with an associated analog-to-digital converter fig. 1).
Regarding claim 25, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein the photodetectors for corresponding ones of the sub-bands in the first and second arms are arranged as a balanced photodetector (figs. 1, 2; page 173, right hand column, lines 32 – 35; page 174, right hand column, lines 31-34).
Regarding claim 26, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein each of the balanced photodetector is connected with an associated analog-to-digital converter (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 27, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein the subtracted outputs across all of the sub-bands provide in-phase and quadrature sub-band components of an input signal to the first and second photonic generators (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 28, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein the first and second photonic comb generators are seeded from a same laser source (fig. 2)(note the diode at the input which is the continuous wave laser).
Regarding claim 29, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein the combiner is an optical coupler/splitter with a 50:50 splitting ratio (page 174, right hand column, lines 20 – 22).
Regarding claim 30, Deakin et al. discloses the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) wherein the sensor system includes a tap coupler in one of the first arm and the second arm and a photodetector detecting an optical power in the one arm (figs. 1, 2).
Regarding claim 31, Deakin et al. discloses an analog-to-digital converter comprising the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) including a source input connected to the first and second photonic comb generators and wherein each of the photodetectors (the diodes) is connected at an output with an associated analog-to-digital converter (fig. 1, 2).
Regarding claim 32, Deakin et al. discloses an analog-to-digital converter comprising the apparatus (fig. 1, 2) having a bandwidth of at least 10 GHz (abstract) (the detection of 10 GHz).
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 18, 19, 20 - 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deakin et al. in view of Kuse et al. (WO 2018/044500)(Applicant Admitted Prior Art).
Regarding claims 18, 19, Deakin et al. disclose all the limitations discussed above except the apparatus wherein the sensor system the controller, and the phase-shifter form a phase-locked loop (claim 18); the apparatus wherein the controller controls the phase-shifter such that an optical power in the first arm or in the second arm is at a predetermined level between a maximum obtainable power level and a minimum obtainable power level in the respective arm (claim 19). However, Kuse et al., in the same field of endeavor, disclose an apparatus wherein the sensor system the controller, and the phase-shifter form a phase-locked loop (PLL fig. 3; paragraph 0075) and .the apparatus wherein the controller controls the phase-shifter such that an optical power in the first arm or in the second arm is at a predetermined level between a maximum obtainable power level and a minimum obtainable power level in the respective arm (paragraph 0075). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify Deakin et al.’s device with that of Kuse et al. in order to improve the performance of the device.
Regarding claim 20, Deakin et al. disclose all the limitations of the claims but do not implicitly disclose the apparatus wherein the controller locks the relative phase between the first and second combs at +45 degrees or -45 degrees at the combiner. Deakin at page 176, right hand column, lines 13 – 17 discloses that the device has “ an active phase stability mechanism”, thereby discloses a controller. Locking the controller at “45 or -45 degrees is a choice in design. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing of the invention that the combination of Deakin et al. and Kuse et al. would achieve the same end result as the claimed invention since the locking the controller at +45 or -45 degrees is a design choice.
Regarding claim 21, 22 are rejected with the same analysis used for claim 20 – a design choice to create a 90 degree phase shift and a 180 degree phase shift.
Conclusion
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/JEAN B JEANGLAUDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845