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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species (a), corresponding to claims 1-10, in the reply filed on November 21, 2024 is acknowledged and appreciated.
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on November 21, 2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art documents submitted by applicant(s) in the Information Disclosure Statement(s) ("IDS") filed on April 13, 2023 and August 5, 2024 have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form(s) PTO/SB/08a).
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: On page 2, paragraph [0009] of the specification, under the section titled “BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS”, a reference to both Figures 7(A)-7(B) should be included. See MPEP § 608.01(f).
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
(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(s) 1, 4, and 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Patent No. 4,557,551 to Dyott (hereinafter “Dyott”).
In re claim 1, Dyott discloses an optical element, see Figures 3-5, comprising:
a layer of organic solid crystal (OSC) material (single crystal 45) having refractive indices nx, ny, and nz (it is noted that the claimed refractive indices may be the same refractive index or may have the same value);
an input photonic element (first optical fiber 25) configured to couple an input beam to the organic solid crystal material (45); and
an output photonic element (second optical fiber 25) configured to receive an output beam from the organic solid crystal material (45). See columns 2-5 of Dyott for further details.
In re claim 4, the layer of organic solid crystal material (45) inherently has a refractive index of greater than approximately 1.4 because it may comprise a material such as meta-dinitrobenzene or 1-methyl, 4-nitroaniline which were both known to have an refractive index of greater than 1.4.
In re claim 7, the layer of organic solid crystal material (45) has a first refractive index along a chosen direction in a first biased state and a second refractive index along the chosen direction in a second biased state (Dyott: “The electric field of the pump wave changes the index of the crystal so as to produce parametric amplification of the signal at wavelength f.sub.1 at D. When the component is used as a second harmonic generator, a signal at wavelength f.sub.1 launched into one of the fibers 25 at A interacts with a signal launched into the other fiber at C and causes the refractive index of the crystal to change non-linearly”).
In re claim 8, a switching time of the organic solid crystal material (45) between a first biased state (“on”) and a second biased state (“off”) is inherently less than approximately 100 ms because the optical element discloses by Dyott has all of the recited structural limitations and, therefore, intrinsic characteristics are presumed to be inherently present (Dyott: “By applying and removing an external electric field to the component, the latter may be used as a switching coupler to effect either zero energy transfer (full "off") or complete energy transfer (full "on") from, for example, A to D”).
In re claim 9, as seen in his Fig. 5, Dyott further discloses an electrode (60) overlapping at least a portion of the layer of organic solid crystal (OSC) material (45).
In re claim 10, the input photonic element (25) comprises a waveguide (optical fiber 25).
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Patent No. 6,609,795 to Weber et al. (hereinafter “Weber”).
In re claim 1, Weber discloses an optical element, see Figures 2-5, comprising:
a layer of organic solid crystal (OSC) material (multi-layer film 45) having refractive indices nx, ny, and nz;
an input photonic element (e.g., light source 52) configured to couple an input beam to the organic solid crystal material (10); and
an output photonic element (e.g., projection lens 92) configured to receive an output beam from the organic solid crystal material (10). See columns 5-12 of Weber for further details.
In re claim 2, as mentioned in col. 12, lines 1-19 of Weber, the organic solid crystal material (10) comprises a hydrocarbon compound selected from the group consisting of anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, corannulene, fluorene, and biphenyl.
In re claim 4, as mentioned in col. 11, lines 25-29 of Weber, the layer of organic solid crystal material (10) has a refractive index of greater than approximately 1.4 (Weber: “in the range of 1.535 to 1.555”).
In re claim 5, as implicitly mentioned in col. 7, lines 61-62 of Weber, the layer of organic solid crystal material (10) has a birefringence in an unbiased state of at least approximately 0.1.
In re claim 6, the refractive indices mentioned in col. 7, lines 61-62 and col. 9, lines 19-24 of Weber would provide values for Δnxy, Δnyz, and Δnxz that would fall within the specified ranges.
In re claim 7, the layer of organic solid crystal material (10) has a first refractive index along a chosen direction in a first biased state and a second refractive index along the chosen direction in a second biased state (Weber: “the birefringent multi-layer film has at least two materials of different refractive index…..One condition is that the refractive index in the y and z directions (non-stretch directions) of the first material, n1y and n1z, be substantially similar to each other (i.e., within 5% of one another)”).
Claim(s) 1-8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Patent Pub. No. US 2021/026116 A1 to RAO et al. (“Rao”). Rao was cited by applicant in an IDS.
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
In re claims 1 and 10, Rao discloses an optical element comprising:
a layer of organic solid crystal (OSC) material, e.g. paragraph [0235], having refractive indices nx,, ny, and nz;
an input photonic element configured to couple an input beam to the organic solid crystal material; and an output photonic element configured to receive an output beam from the organic solid crystal material: see e.g. paragraphs [0115], [0116] and figure 5B "optical waveguide 520 with in-coupling and out-coupling elements", e.g. diffraction gratings.
In re claim 2: the claimed materials are disclosed in Rao, see e.g. paragraphs [0065], [0066].
In re claim 3: a dopant is disclosed in Rao, see e.g. paragraph [0065], last sentence.
In re claims 4-6: see e.g. paragraph [0169] in Rao.
In re claim 7, since Rao discloses the same OSC material as claimed, the layer of OSC material disclosed by Rao would inherently be capable of displaying the same recited first and second refractive indices when biased in the same manner as claimed.
In re claim 8, since Rao discloses the same OSC material as claimed, the layer of OSC material disclosed by Rao would inherently be capable of displaying the same switching time when biased in the same manner as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Omar R. Rojas whose telephone number is (571)272-2357. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 10AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hollweg can be reached on 571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Omar R Rojas/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2874
or
December 4, 2024
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