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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 5-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sayyah et al. (US7142348B2) in view of Sackinger (Broadband Circuits for Optical Fiber Communication, 2000).
Regarding claim 1, Sayyah et al. discloses A light receiving device (Fig. 1) comprising:
a ball lens (Fig. 1; a ball lens 20 is shown); and
a light receiver (Fig. 1; an array of detectors 12 formed on a support layer 16 as shown) disposed in a condensing region of the ball lens (Fig. 1; Column 6, lines 8-13; the ball lens 20 focuses an incoming optical beam 22 on one or more of the pixels 12 in the array. The ball lens 20 delivers incoming light 22 to selected pixels 12), wherein the light receiver includes a light receiving element array in which light receiving units each of which includes a light receiving element is disposed in an array (Fig. 1; an array of detector pixel 12), and a selection circuit (Fig. 1; Fig. 3a; computer 31 and optical activated switches 30) that selects a light receiving unit included in the light receiving element array (Fig. 3a; Column 11, lines 3-12; if the pixel x1,y1, is photoactivated by an incoming probe laser 22 focused on it, the optically activated switch (OAS) 30 in this pixel is switched on as a result of photoactivation by the incoming beam 22. A sensing photocurrent is sensed in the y1 electrode even with no bias applied to the modulator 12 due to its built-in pin diode (see FIG. 3b). In order to determine the row electrode 19 to which the activated pixel 12, 30 belongs, the rows xn (for n=1 to N) are scanned).
However, Sayyah et al. does not expressly disclose an amplifier circuit associated with the light receiving element.
Sackinger discloses an amplifier circuit associated with the light receiving element (Fig. 1.1; Page 3, first paragraph; Figure 1.1 shows a typical optical transceiver front-end. The optical signal from the fiber is received by a photodetector (PD) which produces a small output current proportional to the optical signal. The current is amplified and converted to a voltage by the Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA or TZA)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add an amplifier, as taught by Sackinger, in the present system. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because a typical front-end optical receiver requires an amplifier to amplify the small output current produced by a photodetector in order to properly process the received optical signal.
Regarding claim 5, the present combination discloses The light receiving device according to claim 1, as described and applied above, wherein a plurality of the light receivers are disposed in a condensing region of the ball lens (Sayyah et al., Fig. 1; Column 6, lines 8-13; a plurality of detector pixel 12 is placed along a surface 14. The ball lens 20 focuses an incoming optical beam 22 on one or more of the pixels 12 in the array. The ball lens 20 delivers incoming light 22 to selected pixels 12).
Regarding claim 6, the present combination discloses The light receiving device according to claim 1, as described and applied above, wherein the light receiver is annularly formed with a light receiving face facing inward, and is disposed in a condensing region of the ball lens (Sayyah et al., Fig. 3C; Fig. 1; Column 6, lines 8-13; the array of detector pixels 12 is annularly formed as shown. The first row of detector pixels are facing inward. A plurality of detector pixels 12 is placed along a surface 14. The ball lens 20 focuses an incoming optical beam 22 on one or more of the pixels 12 in the array. The ball lens 20 delivers incoming light 22 to selected pixels 12).
Regarding claim 7, the present combination discloses A reception device comprising: the light receiving device according to claim 1, as described and applied above; and a reception circuit that acquires a signal received by the light receiving device and decodes the acquired signal (Sayyah et al., Fig. 1; Fig. 3a; Column 10, lines 40-49; The interrogating optical beam may have a code applied thereto before shifting to an unmodulated (CW) form. A processor 31 (see FIG. 1) associated with device 10 can be utilized to test the code supplied by the interrogating beam 22 to ensure that the received code is "correct". This allows the device 10 to respond only to interrogating beams 22 from a known source. Once the correct code is identified, then the device 10 communicates with the transmitter 24 by modulating and reflecting the received unmodulated beam 22).
Regarding claim 8, the present combination discloses The reception device according to claim 7, as described and applied above, wherein in a search mode, the reception circuit sequentially selects a predetermined number of the light receiving units and identifies a light receiving unit to be used for communication according to outputs of the selected predetermined number of light receiving units (Sayyah et al., Fig. 1; Fig. 3a; Column 10, lines 28-36; Column 6, lines 8-13; FIG. 3 shows a two-dimensional modulator 12 pixel array in which the array is sequentially scanned with a sensing voltage on conductors 18, 19. The dual-mode modulation/photodetection capability of the ASFP modulator 12 pixels in the array allows sensing which pixel(s), if any, is/are activated by the interrogating optical beam 22 (see FIG. 1). The ball lens 20 focuses an incoming optical beam 22 on one or more of the pixels 12 in the array. The ball lens 20 delivers incoming light 22 to selected pixels 12) ), and in a communication mode, the reception circuit receives an optical signal derived from a spatial optical signal transmitted from a communication target using the light receiving unit identified in the search mode (Sayyah et al., Fig. 1; Fig. 3a; Column 10, lines 40-49; The interrogating optical beam may have a code applied thereto before shifting to an unmodulated (CW) form. A processor 31 (see FIG. 1) associated with device 10 can be utilized to test the code supplied by the interrogating beam 22 to ensure that the received code is "correct". This allows the device 10 to respond only to interrogating beams 22 from a known source. Once the correct code is identified, then the device 10 communicates with the transmitter 24 by modulating and reflecting the received unmodulated beam 22).
Regarding claim 9, the present combination discloses A communication device comprising: the reception device according to claim 8, as described and applied above; a transmission device (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; the modulator 12 that transmits the beam 22b) that transmits a spatial optical signal (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; Column 13, line 64 – Column 14, line 1; the communication system 10 can receive a message from one transmitter 24a on beam 22a and then relay that message along to one or more other transceiver(s) 24b by modulating the beam(s) 22b from transceiver(s) 24b and reflecting it (or them) back to transceiver(s) 24b); and a control device (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; the processor 31) that acquires a signal based on a spatial optical signal, from another communication device (Fig. 5; Column 14, lines 8-11; Transceiver 24a sends a message to the processor 31 via back plane switch 28 and processor 31 which can be stored, for example, in a cache memory 33 associated with processor 31), received by the reception device (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; the detector 12 that receives the beam 22a), performs a process according to the acquired signal, and causes the transmission device to transmit a spatial optical signal according to the performed process (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; Column 13, line 64 – Column 14, line 1; the communication system 10 can receive a message from one transmitter 24a on beam 22a and then relay that message along to one or more other transceiver(s) 24b by modulating the beam(s) 22b from transceiver(s) 24b and reflecting it (or them) back to transceiver(s) 24b).
Regarding claim 10, the present combination discloses A communication system comprising :a plurality of the communication devices according to claim 9, as described and applied above, wherein the plurality of communication devices is disposed to transmit and receive spatial optical signals to and from each other (Sayyah et al., Fig. 5; Column 13, line 64 – Column 14, line 1; the transceivers 24a and 24b are shown. The communication system 10 can receive a message from one transmitter 24a on beam 22a and then relay that message along to one or more other transceiver(s) 24b by modulating the beam(s) 22b from transceiver(s) 24b and reflecting it (or them) back to transceiver(s) 24b).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAI M LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5870. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:5:30 PM.
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JAI M. LEE
Examiner
Art Unit 2634
/JAI M LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2634