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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 9/20/2022 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 9/20/2022 are approved by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 6 recites: The rare-earth-added optical fiber usable in the optical fiber amplifier according to claim 1.
Parent claim 1 previous recites a rare-earth-added optical fiber used in an optical fiber amplifier.
Therefore, claim 6 does not appear to further limit claim 1.
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 1, 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsuchida et al (WO 2012172996 A1).
This rejection is based on the copy of Tsuchida et al (WO 2012172996 A1) provided by the examiner and cited on USPTO form 892.
With respect to claim 1, Tsuchida et al (WO 2012172996 A1) disclose: An optical fiber amplifier [ taught by the title ] comprising a refractive index distribution structure [ taught by the index distribution in the fiber of figure 3 ] provided at least at a part of a rare-earth-added optical fiber in a longitudinal direction and configured to collect an excitation light, which propagates through a clad portion [ page 3 of the translation states, “…The multi-core amplification optical fiber 10 has a double clad structure, and propagates signal light having a wavelength of an optical amplification band of a rare earth element (for example, 1.5 μm band in the case of Er) to the core portion 11, while transmitting the inner cladding. When excitation light having a wavelength in the excitation band of rare earth elements (for example, 0.98 μm band or 1.48 μm band in the case of Er) is input to the part 12, the excitation light is confined in the inner clad part 12 and propagates while being transmitted to the core part 11. Excites rare earth elements added to the. As a result, the rare earth element exhibits an optical amplification effect and amplifies the light propagating through the core portion 11…” ], into a core portion [ page 4 of the translation states, “…On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the state of the skew component of the pumping light in the multi-core amplification optical fiber 10 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, in the multi-core amplification optical fiber 10, the inner cladding portion 12 has a refractive index distribution in which the refractive index increases toward the core portion 11 located near the central axis. As a result, the skew component SL2 included in the pumping light gathers at the center of the multi-core amplification optical fiber 10, and variation in the amount of pumping light that pumps each core unit 11 is suppressed. In particular, the core portion 11 near the central axis, which is difficult to reach the skew component in the related art, is also sufficiently excited. As a result, in the multi-core amplification optical fiber 10, variations in the optical amplification characteristics of the core portions 11 are suppressed. As a result, the optical amplification characteristics of the core portions 11 are made more uniform…”].
Page 4 of the translation states, “…In the first embodiment, the entire cross-sectional area of the inner cladding portion 12 has a graded index type refractive index distribution, but the inner cladding portion 12 includes a region including the seven core portions 11 as the center. A graded index type refractive index distribution shape in which the refractive index increases toward the core portion 11 located near the axis may be used, and there may be a region having a uniform refractive index on the outer peripheral side of the region…”; thus, anticipating claim 3.
The title states that the device is an optical amplifier, thus anticipating claim 6.
Claims 1, 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lou et al (CN 1560967 A).
This rejection is based on the copy of Lou et al (CN 1560967 A) provided by the examiner on USPTO form 892.
With respect to claim 1, Lou et al (CN 1560967 A) disclose: An optical fiber amplifier [ taught by figure 1 ] comprising a refractive index distribution structure provided at least at a part of a rare-earth-added optical fiber in a longitudinal direction and configured to collect an excitation light [ taught by the combination of the fiber grating (15) and removal of layers (12 and 13) ], which propagates through a clad portion, into a core portion [ page 2 of the translation states, “…diffraction action of grating principle of the technical solution of the invention is: using recording in the double cladding fiber inner cladding of double clad optical fiber laser stripe inclination (stripe direction forming a certain angle with the optical axis direction) of the fibre cloth from the double clad fibre side incidence of pump light diffraction in the cladding so as to pumping the core doping ions. When the pump laser emitted by the semiconductor laser is inclined collimating lens set collimating projected to inner clad grating, grating diffraction by pumping in the inner cladding is incident on the interface of the inner cladding and the outer cladding. because the refractive index of the inner cladding is greater than the refractive index of the outer cladding layer, and diffraction light angle of incidence on the interface greater than the critical angle of total reflection, so the pump can continuously generating total reflection in the inner cladding to be transmitted therein, and continuously passing through a core is absorbed by the doped ions, realizing the pumping action…”].
With respect to claim 4, Lou et al (CN 1560967 A) disclose: a grating formed on a surface of or in a vicinity of the core portion of the rare-earth-added optical fiber by a change in a refractive index of the clad portion of the rare-earth-added optical fiber [ taught by the grating (15) formed in the inner cladding (13) ], wherein an excitation light introducer configured to input the excitation light toward the grating is provided on a side surface of the rare-earth-added optical fiber [ taught by semiconductor laser (3) and lens group (2) ].
A fiber laser meets being usable as an amplifier, thus anticipating claim 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to MARK HELLNER at telephone number (571)272-6981.
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
/MARK HELLNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645