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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Drawings
1) The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because Fig 1 fails to show pins 12A connected to the underside of primary circuit 12 as described in the specification, instead Fig 1 points to the underside of the laser diode assembly 14, which is incorrect. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d).
2) The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore,
“multiple operational amplifiers and multiple integrated circuits on a first circuit board 12” in claim 1 must each be clearly shown or the features canceled from the claim. Fig 3 discloses a single IC circuit 500 and BJTs 502, but does not show operational amplifiers. Furthermore, the specification only describes a single IC circuit on the board 12.
“multiple thermistors electrically connected to the analog to digital/digital to analog converter, and a photodetector electrically connected to the same analog to digital/digital to analog converter” in claim 5 must each be clearly shown or the features canceled from the claim. Furthermore, the specification only describes and illustrates a single thermistor 14B. Electrical connection between these elements is not shown.
“a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller electrically connected to the thermoelectric cooler and the thermistors” in claim 6 must be shown or the features canceled from the claim. Electrical connection between these elements is not shown.
“a user interface electrically connected to the laser assembly” in claim 7 must be shown or the features canceled from the claim. Electrical connection between these elements is not described in the specification.
No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of the invention of Group 1 (claims 1-14) in the reply filed on 03/16/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that “the inventions are not mutually exclusive features” and “a search of all the embodiments will not create an unreasonable burden … because a search of the classes/subclasses of one invention will contain inventions related to other invention”. This is not found persuasive because a) the restriction requirement is between groups of claims not between embodiments, b) applicant did not state on the record that the inventions are obvious variants of each other, and c) the groups of claims are classified in different classes as explained in the restriction requirement and searching both classes would present a burden to the examiner.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Accordingly, claims 15-20 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.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claims 1-7 be found allowable, claims 8-14 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m). In order to overcome this objection, claims 8-14 should be canceled.
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 1-3, 7-10, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menzies et al. (4,509,130), hereinafter ‘130.
Regarding claim 1, Figs 1 and 2 of ‘130 disclose a system comprising:
1. “a laser assembly [14];
a first circuit board [22,36] operatively connected to the laser assembly [14] and configured to control the laser assembly,
a second circuit board [24, 26, 28, 30] operatively connected to the first circuit board [22, 36] and configured to process and transmit electronic signals from the system,
the circuit boards include operational amplifiers [66,70,72], integrated circuits [36, 28], amplifying transistors [Q1-Q3], an analog to digital/digital to analog converter [62,64], and a radio frequency transceiver [24].”
‘130 does not disclose the above listed elements to be arranged specifically on two distinct circuit boards:
“wherein the first circuit board includes operational amplifiers, integrated circuits, and amplifying transistors; and
wherein the second circuit board includes an analog to digital/digital to analog converter, and a radio frequency transceiver.”
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to arrange all of these elements of a first circuit board and on a second circuit board as needed, since the courts have held that constructing a formerly known structure integrally or in various elements involves only routine skill in the art, see MPEP 2144.04 V. Also, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art and since the applicant did not demonstrate the criticality of positioning the circuit elements on the first or the second circuit board. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Regarding claim 2, ‘130 further discloses:
2. “wherein the system further comprises:
a heat sink assembly [20] operatively connected to the laser assembly [14];”
but does not disclose:
“a housing located adjacent to the heat sink assembly; and
a cap located adjacent to the first and second circuit boards.”
However, the examiner takes an official notice that providing a housing with a cap to house laser assembly and the circuit boards is well known in the art for the purpose of providing isolation for the laser system form the ambient environment.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of ‘130 by providing “a housing located adjacent to the heat sink assembly and a cap located adjacent to the first and second circuit boards”, since the combination would yield the predictable result of packaging the laser system.
Thus, the claimed invention would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because “all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. KSR, 550 U.S. at 416, 82 USPQ2d at 1395.
Regarding claim 3, ‘130 does not disclose wherein the first circuit board [22, 36] further comprises:
3. “a plurality of spring-loaded electrically conductive pins.”
However, the examiner takes an official notice that spring-loaded electrically conductive pins are well known in the art for the purpose of connecting electronic components and circuits to each other.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of ‘130 by providing a plurality of spring-loaded electrically conductive pins, since the combination would yield the predictable result of interconnecting the laser system and the circuits with each other.
Thus, the claimed invention would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because “all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. KSR, 550 U.S. at 416, 82 USPQ2d at 1395.
Regarding claim 7, ‘130 further discloses:
7. “wherein the system, further comprises:
a user interface [12] electrically connected to the laser assembly [14],
wherein the user interface is configured to access the laser assembly and control or monitor features of the laser assembly remotely.”
Claims 4-6, 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘130 as applied to claims 1-3 above, and further in view of Karasek et al. (2011/0176201), hereinafter ‘201.
Regarding claims 4 and 6, ‘130 does not disclose wherein the heat sink assembly [20] further comprises:
4. “a thermoelectric cooler operatively connected to the heat sink assembly and located adjacent to the laser assembly.”
6. “wherein the first circuit board further comprises:
a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller electrically connected to the thermoelectric cooler and the at least one thermistor,
wherein the PID controller is configured to maintain a desired temperature of the laser assembly.”
However, controlling laser diode temperature with a thermistor, a TEC and a PID controller is well known in the art for the purpose of keeping the temperature of the laser at a desired value. This is evidenced by Fig 1 and paragraphs 0014-0015 of ‘201, which disclose a laser diode, TEC and thermistor assembly 10 controlled by PID regulator 25. Precise temperature control in view of the actual laser diode temperature is critical for proper laser operation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teachings of ‘201 into the device of ‘130 by providing a thermoelectric cooler connected to the laser assembly and a PID controller connected to the thermistor and the TEC, since the combination would yield the predictable result of accurately controlling the temperature of the laser system.
Thus, the claimed invention would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because “all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination yielded nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. KSR, 550 U.S. at 416, 82 USPQ2d at 1395.
Regarding claim 5, combination of ‘130 and ‘201 further discloses:
5. “wherein the laser assembly further comprises:
at least one thermistor [18] configured to measure a current temperature of the laser assembly [14, (10 of ‘201)],
wherein the at least one thermistor [18] is electrically connected to the analog to digital/digital to analog converter [62,64, (210 of ‘201)]; and
a photodetector [44] configured to detect a light beam being produced by the laser assembly [14],
wherein the photodetector [44] is electrically connected to the analog to digital/digital to analog converter [62,64, (210 of ‘201)].”
Regarding claims 8-14, the arguments applied above to the apparatus described with regards to claims 1-7 are applicable to these claims as well.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant’s attention is drawn to the references cited on form PTO-892 which lists other references with similar features as the invention. However, none of them anticipate all the features of the pending claims.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following:
1) Comparison between the specification filed on 12/12/2022 and the priority application filed on 12/28/2021 revealed several errors that were introduced into the specification that create confusion and inconsistency in the disclosure. In particular, the priority application discloses a secondary circuit board that is part of the laser diode assembly 14, and that is not illustrated. This secondary circuit board is different from the separate circuit board 13 for the RF communication and A/D conversion. Also, amendments made to Fig 2 that remove reference to element 14E need to be addressed in the specification for consistency.
Correction of the following paragraphs is required:
[0025] Furthermore, primary driving circuit board 12 is the preferred embodiment of the control apparatus of the laser diode assembly 14 and contacts laser diode assembly 14 through the use of spring-loaded electrically conductive pins 12A (FIG. 2). 12A are conventionally attached to casing 14A of laser diode 14. 12, separate circuit board 13, laser diode assembly 14, and heat sink assembly 15 are inserted into casing 16. Cap 11 covers the rest of the components of system 2. A separate circuit board 13 is connected to primary driving circuit board 12 to provide the capabilities of processing and transmitting the signals for system 2.
[0029] In one embodiment, a secondary circuit board (not shown) is fitted onto laser diode assembly 14 that connects the photodetector 14C, thermistor 14B, laser diode, and optical actuators of the laser diode assembly 14 to the primary driving circuit board 12. In another embodiment, the secondary circuit board also includes a resistor 14D on it that is selective depending on the laser diode placed into laser diode assembly 14.
[0030] A unique aspect of the present invention is that this resistor 14D is the shunting resistor of the circuit in series with the laser diode assembly 14. This structure is necessary so that driving signals sent by the radio frequency controller 122 will not send too much current to the laser diode assembly 14 and damage the laser diode assembly 14. The resistor 14DA is different for each different type of laser assembly since they require different amounts of current. Another unique aspect of the present invention is that the resistor 14D can be utilized with primary driving circuit board 12 for any laser assembly without worrying about operating parameters and prevention of damage to laser diode assembly 14.
[0037] Regarding temperature control electronics, this includes the analog circuitry for the temperature control electronics for controlling the temperature of laser diode assembly 14. Here, signals are sent and received to/from ADC/DAC 100 to provide a control reference and create a control effort to maintain that reference with error feedback from laser diode assembly 14 to maintain stability. This involves thermistor[[s]] 14B for measuring current temperature and the temperature control effort of either chilling or heating. In the present invention, this is done using thermoelectric cooler[[s]] 15A (FIG. 1) and PID (proportional, integral, derivative) controller 54 to provide extremely precise and smooth temperature stabilization, as will be discussed in greater detail later. However, it is to be understood that conventional temperature stability methods can also be used in this aspect of system 2.
[0038] circuit board (not shown) makes contact with primary driving circuit board 12 through spring-loaded electrical pieces 12A that connect each signal to the rest of the circuit on primary driving circuit board 12. Besides this, laser diode assembly 14 rests on a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) 15A that is silver epoxied to heat sink assembly 15 in the same location as the laser diode assembly 14.
[0042] It is to be understood that there are various methods and avenues for controlling a laser diode's power and current. In one embodiment of the present invention, however, a combination of operational amplifiers and bipolar junction/amplifying transistors (BJT) 502 and MOSFETs 114 are used to provide a variety of gain and power depending on the utilized laser diode. A cascaded network of MOSFETs 114 allows for a wide variety of driving currents of these lasers without dissipating too much heat on the circuit board 12. This architecture requires that the BJTs regulate the current going through each MOSFET to be equal, thereby ultimately needing a current source to operate the BJTs correctly based on their inherent bandgap as a function of temperature. With the inclusion of other passive components like capacitors and resistors for filtering the power and signals throughout the circuit, the present invention provides a very clean and smooth automatic current-controlling apparatus that can be applied to any laser diode using the secondary circuit board (not shown) within laser diode assembly 14. With a power push button switch 116, a potentiometer 14E (on the secondary circuit board) to change laser current, a potentiometer 118 for changing laser operating temperature, and copper-plated holes 120 on the circuit board 12 to probe and measure the parameters of system 2, most of the system 2 can be operated as a stand-alone unit without the need for digital counterparts and only require minimal user interaction. The present invention, however, utilizes these various features in tandem with system 2, allowing access and control of system 2 from an external point or separate location using radio frequency technology.
2) The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
“multiple integrated circuits on a first circuit board 12” in claim 1. Specification and Fig 3 only disclose a single IC circuit 500.
“multiple thermistors electrically connected to the analog to digital/digital to analog converter of circuit 13, and a photodetector electrically connected to the same analog to digital/digital to analog converter” in claim 5. The specification only describes and illustrates a single thermistor 14B.
“a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller electrically connected to the thermoelectric cooler and the thermistors” in claim 6.
“a user interface electrically connected to the laser assembly” in claim 7. Specification clearly discloses that the claimed device is the laser system with a remote wireless access by means of radio-frequency control. The connection cannot be wireless and electrical at the same time. In addition, the specification describes “user interface” as a software program for controlling the laser system.
Appropriate correction is required. No new matter should be entered.
Contact Info
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to M. A. GOLUB-MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-8602. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MinSun Harvey can be reached on (571) 272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M. A. Golub-Miller/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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