DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-4, and 6 have been presented for examination.
Claims 5 and 7 has been cancelled.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
PRIORITY
3. Acknowledgment is made that this application is a 371 of PCT/JP2020/017433 filed 04/23/2020.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant's arguments filed 3/17/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
i) Following Applicants amendments the previously presented 112 rejection has been WITHDRAWN. However in view of Applicants amendments an additional 112 rejection has been presented below.
ii) Following Applicants arguments the prior art rejection is WITHDRAWN.
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.
5. Claims 1-4 and 6 are 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.
i) Claim 1 recites “using an obtained value of a fitting parameter, screen a calculation result of the Ising model calculation device when the Ising model calculation device is operating as the coherent Ising machine.” It is unclear how this represents an active step in the system/device. It is unclear how the screening of an operation state of the device as a particular of coherent ising machine translates to an active patentable step. The claim as a whole appears to be directed merely to applying a magnetic field, taking a measurement, and then performing a calculation. The claim lacks a step beyond the “screening” of the result and in fact does not indicate how the result is “screened.” Claim 1 is therefore rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: an active step beyond merely applying a magnetic field to a system and monitoring its result.
ii) Claim 6 recites “using the amplitude values, screen a calculation result of the Ising model calculation device when operating as the coherent Ising machine.” It is unclear how this represents an active step in the system/device. It is unclear how the screening of a calculation result when operating as the coherent ising machine translates to an active patentable step. The claim as a whole appears to be directed merely to applying a magnetic field, taking a measurement, and then performing a calculation. The claim lacks a step beyond the “screening” of the result and in fact does not indicate how the result is “screened.” Claim 6 is therefore rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: an active step beyond merely applying a magnetic field to a system and monitoring its result.
Appropriate correction is required.
All claims dependent upon a rejected base claim are rejected by virtue of their dependency.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 1-4 and 6 are allowable over the prior art of record pending resolving all intervening issues such as the 112 rejection above. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 1 recites: An Ising model calculation device for computing a generalized Ising model expressed by a Hamiltonian having a magnetic field term, the Ising model calculation device configured to:
apply only a magnetic field to spins of state monitoring light pulses, wherein the state monitoring light pulses are some of DOPO (Degenerate Optical Parametric Oscillator) pulses used in the Ising model calculation device;
measure amplitudes of the obtained state monitoring light pulses to monitor a state of the magnetic field term; and
fit a specific fitting function to the measured amplitudes of the state monitoring light pulses to determine wheter the Ising model calculation device is operating as a coherent Ising machine; and
using an obtained value of a fitting parameter, screen a calculation result of the Ising model calculation device when the Ising model calculation device is operating as the coherent Ising machine.
Claim 6 recites: An Ising model calculation device for computing a generalized Ising model expressed by a Hamiltonian having a magnetic field term, the Ising model calculation device configured to:
apply only a magnetic field to spins of state monitoring light pulses, wherein the state monitoring light pulses are some of DOPO (Degenerate Optical Parametric Oscillator) pulses used in the Ising model calculation device;
measure amplitudes of the obtained state monitoring light pulses to monitor a state of the magnetic field term;
determine an amplitude value of each of the measured amplitudes of the state monitoring light pulses to determine whether the Ising model calculation device is operating as a coherent Ising machine; and
using the amplitude values, screen a calculation result of the Ising model calculation device when operating as the coherent Ising machine.
The closest prior art of record includes:
i) U.S. Patent No. 10140580 which teaches as per Column 2, Lines 5-10 “Ising model of a magnetic material, in a pair of atoms interacting with each other, the directions of spins tend to be oriented in opposite directions (in the case of interaction of antiferromagnetism) or in the identical direction (in the case of interaction of ferromagnetism) such that the energy of spin configuration is the lowest.”
ii) Inagaki, Takahiro, et al. "Large-scale Ising spin network based on degenerate optical parametric oscillators." Nature Photonics 10.6 (2016): 415-419 which teaches as per the Abstract “ground state-search problem of the Ising Hamiltonian, and simulating the Ising spins with physical systems.”
iii) Takesue, Hiroki, et al. "Large-scale artificial spin network based on time-multiplexed degenerate optical parametric oscillators for coherent Ising machine." Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVI. Vol. 10088. SPIE, 2017, which teaches as per page 3 the last paragraph a time-multiplexed DOPOs, … implemented with the simplest Ising spin network.”
iv) Wang, Zhe, et al. "Coherent Ising machine based on degenerate optical parametric oscillators." Physical Review A 88.6 (2013): 063853 which teaches the aspect of coherent ising machines in optical oscillators.
However, the closest prior art of record does not explicitly teach or render obvious the limitations and particularly the emphasized limitations above, particularly in combination with the other limitations within the claims. The dependent claims are allowable for at least the same reasons as their respective independent claims.
Conclusion
7. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
8. All Claims are rejected.
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
i) U.S. Patent No. 10140580 which teaches as per Column 2, Lines 5-10 “Ising model of a magnetic material, in a pair of atoms interacting with each other, the directions of spins tend to be oriented in opposite directions (in the case of interaction of antiferromagnetism) or in the identical direction (in the case of interaction of ferromagnetism) such that the energy of spin configuration is the lowest.”
ii) Inagaki, Takahiro, et al. "Large-scale Ising spin network based on degenerate optical parametric oscillators." Nature Photonics 10.6 (2016): 415-419 which teaches as per the Abstract “ground state-search problem of the Ising Hamiltonian, and simulating the Ising spins with physical systems.”
iii) Takesue, Hiroki, et al. "Large-scale artificial spin network based on time-multiplexed degenerate optical parametric oscillators for coherent Ising machine." Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVI. Vol. 10088. SPIE, 2017, which teaches as per page 3 the last paragraph a time-multiplexed DOPOs, … implemented with the simplest Ising spin network.”
iv) Wang, Zhe, et al. "Coherent Ising machine based on degenerate optical parametric oscillators." Physical Review A 88.6 (2013): 063853 which teaches the aspect of coherent ising machines in optical oscillators.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Saif A. Alhija whose telephone number is (571) 272-8635. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 10:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Chavez, can be reached at (571) 270-1104. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Informal or draft communication, please label PROPOSED or DRAFT, can be additionally sent to the Examiners fax phone number, (571) 273-8635.
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SAA
/SAIF A ALHIJA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2186
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