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 with traverse of Invention III, claims 21-28, and Species III-A (claims 23 and 27, with claim 21 being generic) in the reply filed on April 14, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the Species of Group 3 are closely related and there is not an undue search burden to examining the claims of Species III-B with the claims of Species III-A. The examiner agrees. Therefore, the restriction requirement between Species III-A and Species III-B is withdrawn.
The restriction between Inventions I, II, and III, however, is made final.
Accordingly, claims 1-20 and 29-35 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on April 14, 2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The numerous prior art documents submitted by applicant in the Information Disclosure Statements filed on September 13, 2003, have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form PTO-1449) with the exception of foreign and/or NPL references that were not provided, which have been lined-through.
The examiner notes that the over 1400 references were considered within the time allowed for examination of this application. Due to the large number of references and limited examination time, and because it is presumed that Applicant is the most knowledgeable about the references provided by the Applicant and their relationship to Applicant’s claimed invention, the examiner requests that Applicant provide a list of any of the cited references, if any, that specifically discuss both splitters and multiplexers located within a fiber terminal.
Drawings
Nine (9) sheets of drawings were filed on May 2, 2023 and have been accepted by the examiner.
Specification
Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su et al. (US 2020/0319409 A1); Rapp et al. (US 7,367,823 B2); Badar et al. (US 8,600,208 B2), and Castoguay et al. (US 2014/0185992 A1).
Regarding claims 21-24; Su et al. discloses a wavelength multiplexed self-coherent transmitter (1900; see Figure 19) comprising:
at least two inputs (inputs of splitters 1902, which receive light λ1, λ2, λ3, λ4 from lasers);
at least two splitters (Splitters 1902) each configured to split an input optical signal (λ1, λ2, λ3, λ4) received at each of the respective at least two inputs (see Figure 19);
at least two wavelength division multiplexer devices (WDM 1906A, 1906B) and each configured to receive output optical signals from the at least two splitters (1902) and multiplex the output optical signals into at least two multiplexed output optical signals; and
at least two outputs (Output 1 and Output 2) wherein the at least two outputs each receive the least two multiplexed output optical signals (see Figure 19).
Su et al. does not disclose a fiber optic terminal comprising
a shell comprising a cavity;
at least two input connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell into the cavity; and
at least two output connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from the outer surface of the shell into the cavity.
Rapp et al. teaches that fiber optical terminals (termination modules, 80; see the abstract and Figures 17-18; see column 7, lines 9-25) may house couplers, splitters, combiners, and wavelength division multiplexers (see the abstract; see Figures 17-18; see column 7, lines 9-25).
Badar et al. teaches that fiber optical terminals (telecommunications module 30; see Figures 3 and 4) may house a variety of different types of optical equipment, depending on the desired connectivity, including splitters and multiplexers/demultiplexers (see column 6, lines 1-15).
Castonguay discloses a fiber optic terminal (fiber optic module housing 10; see Figures 1-8), comprising:
a shell (the shell includes main body 11 and cover 18) comprising a cavity (space enclosed by the body 11 and cover 18);
at least two input connection ports (apertures 21, which are configures to receive optical fiber adapters 22; see Figures 1 and 14) each comprising a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell (10) into the cavity (see Figure 1); and
at least two output connection ports (apertures 23, which are configured to receive fiber optic adapters 22; see Figures 1 and 14) each comprising a port (23) opening extending from the outer surface of the shell (10) into the cavity;
wherein the at least two input connection ports (21) and the at least two output connection ports (23) are arranged in an array at an edge of the shell;
wherein the array comprises a single row (see a single row of input ports 21 on a first edge and a single row of output ports 23 on a second edge);
wherein the array comprises a first row (row of input ports 21) and a second row (row of output ports 23; here the examiner notes that also not explicitly required by the claims, it’s within the level of ordinary skill in the art to provide a plurality of rows on a single edge of the shell, wherein a second row may be positioned either laterally or vertically to a first row, since these are well known configurations).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to house the wavelength multiplexed self-coherent transmitter of Su et al. within a fiber optical terminal for the purpose of providing a housing containing the elements and connection ports to transmit and receive signals to and from the transmitter of Su et al. via optical fibers, since it’s known in the art to house these elements within fiber optical terminals, thereby providing a fiber optic terminal comprising a shell comprising a cavity; at least two input connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell into the cavity and coupled to a splitter that splits input optical signals; and at least two output connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from the outer surface of the shell into the cavity, and connected to the multiplexers to receive at least two multiplexed output signals.
Regarding claims 25-28; Su discloses a wavelength multiplexed self-coherent transmitter (1900; see Figure 19) comprising:
a first input (input for λ1 into a splitter 1902) and a second input (input for λ2 into a splitter 1902);
a first splitter (1902) and a second splitter (1902), wherein each of the first splitter and the second splitter comprises an input, a first splitter output, and a second splitter output (see Figure 19);
a first wavelength division multiplexer device (WDM 1906A) and a second wavelength division multiplexer device (1906B), wherein each of the first wavelength division multiplexer device and the second wavelength division multiplexer device comprises a first multiplexer input, a second multiplexer input, and a multiplexer output (see Figure 19); and
at least two outputs (Output 1, Output 2) wherein:
the at least two outputs (Output 1, Output 2) receive at least two output optical signals from the first wavelength division multiplexer device (1906A) and second wavelength division multiplexer device (1906B);
the first splitter output of the first splitter (1902, λ1) is optically coupled to the first multiplexer input of the first wavelength division multiplexer device (1906A);
the second splitter output of the first splitter (1902, λ1) is optically coupled to the first multiplexer input of the second wavelength division multiplexer device (1906B);
the first splitter output of the second splitter (1902, λ2) is optically coupled to the second multiplexer input of the first wavelength division multiplexer device (1906A); and
the second splitter output of the second splitter (1902, λ2) is optically coupled to the second multiplexer input of the second wavelength division multiplexer device (1906B).
Su et al. does not disclose a fiber optic terminal comprising:
a shell comprising a cavity;
a first input connection port and a second input connection port, wherein each of the first input connection port and the second input connection port comprise a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell into the cavity;
the first splitter, the second splitter, the first wavelength division multiplexer and the second wavelength division multiplexer within the cavity;
at least two output connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from the outer surface of the shell into the cavity.
Rapp et al. teaches that fiber optical terminals (termination modules, 80; see the abstract and Figures 17-18; see column 7, lines 9-25) may house couplers, splitters, combiners, and wavelength division multiplexers (see the abstract; see Figures 17-18; see column 7, lines 9-25).
Badar et al. teaches that fiber optical terminals (telecommunications module 30; see Figures 3 and 4) may house a variety of different types of optical equipment, depending on the desired connectivity, including splitters and multiplexers/demultiplexers (see column 6, lines 1-15).
Castonguay discloses a fiber optic terminal (fiber optic module housing 10; see Figures 1-8), comprising:
a shell (the shell includes main body 11 and cover 18) comprising a cavity (space enclosed by the body 11 and cover 18);
at least two input connection ports (apertures 21, which are configures to receive optical fiber adapters 22; see Figures 1 and 14) each comprising a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell (10) into the cavity (see Figure 1); and
at least two output connection ports (apertures 23, which are configured to receive fiber optic adapters 22; see Figures 1 and 14) each comprising a port (23) opening extending from the outer surface of the shell (10) into the cavity;
wherein the at least two input connection ports (21) and the at least two output connection ports (23) are arranged in an array at an edge of the shell;
wherein the array comprises a single row (see a single row of input ports 21 on a first edge and a single row of output ports 23 on a second edge);
wherein the array comprises a first row (row of input ports 21) and a second row (row of output ports 23; here the examiner notes that also not explicitly required by the claims, it’s within the level of ordinary skill in the art to provide a plurality of rows on a single edge of the shell, wherein a second row may be positioned either laterally or vertically to a first row, since these are well known configurations).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to house the wavelength multiplexed self-coherent transmitter of Su et al. within a fiber optical terminal for the purpose of providing a housing containing the elements and connection ports to transmit and receive signals to and from the transmitter of Su et al. via optical fibers, since it’s known in the art to house these elements within fiber optical terminals, thereby providing a fiber optic terminal comprising a shell comprising a cavity; at least two input connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from an outer surface of the shell into the cavity and coupled to a splitter that splits input optical signals; and at least two output connection ports each comprising a port opening extending from the outer surface of the shell into the cavity, and connected to the multiplexers to receive at least two multiplexed output signals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHELLE R CONNELLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2345. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHELLE R CONNELLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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