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 3, FIG. 6, Claims 1-4 and 9-16 in the reply filed on 01/31/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 5-8 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/31/26.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Dragone et al. (US Patent 5,373,517).
Regarding claim 1, Dragone discloses a multi-wavelength multi-port laser with fast switchable output ports and wavelengths (FIG. 1, col. 1 lines 21-29), comprising:
a N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (12, FIG. 1, col. 2 lines 30-33), in which the transmission from any one of the input ports (161-16N, FIG. 1, col. 2 lines 35-37) to any one of the output ports (141-14N, FIG. 1, col. 2 lines 33-35) has the smallest loss only at a specific wavelength;
N port-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers (221-22N, FIG. 1, col. 4 lines 8-9), with one-to-one correspondence with the input ports of the N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (221-22N with one-to-one correspondence with 161-16N, FIG. 1), one end of each port-selection semiconductor optical amplifier is terminated by a highly reflective or partially reflective facet (24, FIG. 1, where 24 is highly reflective, col. 4 lines 19-20), and the other end is connected to an input port of the intra-cavity wavelength router (FIG. 1);
N wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers (181-18N, FIG. 1, col. 2 lines 37-40), with one-to-one correspondence with the output ports of the N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (181-18N with one-to-one correspondence with 141-14N, FIG. 1), one end of each of the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifier is connected to an output port of the intra-cavity wavelength router (FIG. 1), and the other end is provided with a partial reflector (20, FIG. 1, where 20 is partially transmissive, col. 4 line 19);
whereas an optical resonant cavity (“The two cleaved faces 20 and 24 comprise reflective mirrors defining a tuned cavity in which lasing action can be supported,” FIG. 1, col. 2 lines 45-47) of a certain wavelength is formed between the reflective facet of any one of the port-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers and the partial reflector of any one of the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers (FIG. 1, col. 4 lines 4-38).
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Regarding claim 2, Dragone discloses by applying currents to the port-selection semiconductor optical amplifier and the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifier (via GATE CONTROL and biasing circuit to provide bias currents to any one of 221-22N and 181, FIG. 1) corresponding to any pair of input and output port combinations of the intra-cavity wavelength router, a laser emission with the specific lowest-loss wavelength corresponding to the input and output port combination of the intra-cavity wavelength router is transmitted through the partial reflector of the corresponding optical resonant cavity (col. 4 lines 4-38).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doerr et al. (US Patent 6,549,313 B1) in view of Zirngibl (US Patent 5,444,725).
Regarding claim 1, Doerr discloses a multi-wavelength multi-port laser with fast switchable output ports and wavelengths (FIG. 6A), comprising:
a N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (601, FIG. 6A, where 601 is a Na x Nb router and Na = Nb, col. 7 lines 1-4), in which the transmission from any one of the input ports (see annotated FIG. 6A below) to any one of the output ports (see annotated FIG. 6A below) has the smallest loss only at a specific wavelength;
N port-selection active elements (Na active elements, FIG. 6A, col. 6 lines 66-67 and col. 7 line 1), with one-to-one correspondence with the input ports of the N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (the Na active elements with one-to-one correspondence with the input ports, see annotated FIG. 6A below), one end of each port-selection semiconductor optical amplifier is terminated by a highly reflective or partially reflective facet (see annotated FIG. 6A below, col. 7 lines 9-12), and the other end is connected to an input port of the intra-cavity wavelength router (see annotated FIG. 6A below);
N wavelength-selection active elements (Nb active elements, FIG. 6A, col. 6 lines 66-67 and col. 7 line 1), with one-to-one correspondence with the output ports of the N×N intra-cavity wavelength router (the Nb active elements with one-to-one correspondence with the output ports, see annotated FIG. 6A below), one end of each of the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifier is connected to an output port of the intra-cavity wavelength router (see annotated FIG. 6A below), and the other end is provided with a partial reflector (see annotated FIG. 6A below, col. 7 lines 9-12);
whereas an optical resonant cavity (“a cavity including the router 601 is formed and, by providing sufficient gain, lasing will generally occur at the strongest resonance, typically the one of highest gain,” col. 7 lines 15-18) of a certain wavelength is formed between the reflective facet of any one of the port-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers and the partial reflector of any one of the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifiers (col. 7 lines 9-23).
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Doerr does not disclose the N port-selection active elements or the N wavelength-selection active elements being semiconductor optical amplifiers.
Zirngibl discloses a multi-wavelength multi-port laser with fast switchable output ports and wavelengths (FIG. 4) similar to that of Doerr comprising active elements being semiconductor optical amplifiers (221-22N and 181-18N, FIG. 4, col. 3 lines 14-21) coupled at input and output ends of a N x N wavelength router (12, FIG. 4, col. 3 lines 3-12).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the active elements of Doerr with the semiconductor optical amplifiers as taught by Zirngibl in order to obtain wider wavelength operability and desired optical gain.
Regarding claim 2, Doerr discloses by applying currents to the port-selection semiconductor optical amplifier and the wavelength-selection semiconductor optical amplifier (via control leads C1-CNa and C’1-C’Nb, FIG. 6A) corresponding to any pair of input and output port combinations of the intra-cavity wavelength router, a laser emission with the specific lowest-loss wavelength corresponding to the input and output port combination of the intra-cavity wavelength router is transmitted through the partial reflector of the corresponding optical resonant cavity (col. 7 lines 9-23).
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doerr et al. and Zirngibl as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Kamei et al. (“N x N Cyclic-Frequency Router With Improved Performance Based on Arrayed-Waveguide Grating, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 27, No. 18, September 15, 2009).
Regarding claims 3-4, the combination has disclosed the multi-wavelength multi-port laser outlined in the rejections to claims 1-2 above except the intra-cavity wavelength router is a cyclic wavelength router, in which the designed channel spacing between the N wavelength channels is 1/N of the entire free spectral range of the wavelength router. Kamei discloses the intra-cavity wavelength router is a cyclic wavelength router, in which the designed channel spacing between the N wavelength channels is 1/N of the entire free spectral range of the wavelength router (see title and abstract). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the intra-cavity wavelength router of the combination with the cyclic wavelength router as taught by Kamei in order to obtain improved performance and productivity (see abstract of Kamei).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-16 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Doerr et al. (US Patent 6,359,912 B1) discloses a multi-wavelength multi-port laser with fast switchable output ports and wavelengths similar to the claimed invention (see FIG. 6A).
Glance et al. (US Patent 5,542,010) discloses a monolithically integrated wideband optical filter which is rapidly tunable to a large number of optical frequencies over a wide optical frequency range comprises two series connected optical filters of different resolutions formed in a semiconductive wafer similar to the claimed invention (see abstract and FIG. 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUANDA ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1439. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30 AM - 6:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MINSUN HARVEY can be reached at (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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/YUANDA ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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